Prehistory · 14th–13th centuries BC · Lake Mezzano, Lazio, Italy
3,300-year-old Bronze Age sword found still sharp in Italian volcanic lake
The Late Bronze Age weapon lay near a bronze razor in Lake Mezzano, northwest of Rome, where a submerged stilt-house village also survives.
Lake Mezzano, Italy Archaeologists have recovered a bronze sword from Lake Mezzano, a volcanic crater lake in central Italy. The weapon dates to the Late Bronze Age, the 14th to 13th centuries BC, around 3,300 years ago. Its edge is still sharp.
The Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Province of Viterbo and Southern Etruria announced the find in a statement. Live Science reported it in translation. The lake fills the crater of an ancient volcano, roughly 100 km northwest of Rome. The sword is the third of its kind found in Lake Mezzano in the past 50 years.
Remains of a drowned stilt-house village
In the Bronze Age, people built pile dwellings in what is now the lake. These are houses raised on posts, also called stilt houses. During their recent investigations, the archaeologists recovered parts of this submerged settlement.
The sword was not the only find. The team also recovered numerous intact vases. Other objects included axes, arrowheads, daggers, spearheads, pins and a bronze razor.
The people who lived here came long before the Etruscans and the Romans. According to the statement, the sword and the other finds are giving archaeologists new information about these prehistoric communities.
A warrior's possession or a gift to a god
The sword and the razor were found near each other. This suggests the two objects may have belonged to a person of high social status, such as an elite warrior. The sword may have been a symbol of power.
There is a second possible explanation. The weapons may have been placed in the lake as an offering to a deity. That would fit a wider Bronze Age ritual practice. People threw hoards of jewellery into bodies of water, along with objects that had been bent or ritually "killed".
This practice continued for centuries. In Etruscan times, wells were ritually "closed" with objects and human sacrifices. Both explanations for the Lake Mezzano sword remain open.
Weapons as signs of status
During the 13th century BC, people in central Italy took part in trade networks that spanned the Mediterranean. The superintendence places the sword in that setting. Its statement reads: "In this context, bronze weapons were not only instruments of combat, but also symbols of prestige, identity, and power." Further research at Lake Mezzano is planned in the coming years.
Sources
- Bronze Age sword discovered in an Italian lake is still sharp after 3,300 years (Live Science: archaeology)
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