Just a couple of years ago, in October 2021, divers found by chance a strange object covered in a crust of sediment on the sandy bottom near Neve Yam, a kibbutz located in northern Israel, about 20 kilometers from Haifa. . What caught their attention the most was that it was shaped like a sword, so they contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority so that it could be studied.
After several months of analysis in the laboratory, specialists have determined that it was really an ancient medieval weapon dating from the 12th or 13th centuries and that it was probably lost by a crusader knight during a naval battle some 800 years ago, as explained in an article published in Atiqot magazine.
It was made following the medieval European tradition, based on the physical properties of the pommel and cross, and was probably associated with the Frankish settlement in the Holy Land. “The sword was used by a warrior who arrived after the First Crusade, when the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established in 1099,” archaeologist Jacob Sharvit explains in a statement.
Its discovery in the middle of the sea attracted enormous worldwide interest. The sword was covered in a thick marine concretion of sand and shells, making it difficult for experts to separate the metal without causing damage. “It’s a shame, but we will never be able to see the weapon as it was,” the researchers say in their article.
“But it is also true that the concretion is responsible for slowing down the oxidation process, preserving the sword in its entirety. Otherwise, the iron would have oxidized and disintegrated in the water,” they add. The help of experts from the Soreq Nuclear Research Center made it possible to analyze the sheet without even removing the sand.
State-of-the-art X-ray technology made it possible to visually penetrate the layers of marine concretion and glimpse the original outline of the sword. “Considering the bloody battles that took place (in the Mediterranean Levant) between the Crusaders and the Muslims, known from various historical sources, we might expect to find more swords of this type,” Sharvit notes.
“In practice, we only found fragments, very few whole swords. So far, seven from this period have been found in Israel, most of them discovered in the sea. Swords were generally not thrown away. Over the years, once they were no longer in use, the metal was recycled for other utensils,” he says.
Study in the laboratory revealed that the sword, with a blade 88 centimeters long and 4.6 centimeters wide, was probably used in combat. His X-ray examination showed that it was clearly bent. “The sword was part of the personal equipment of a knight or warrior. It was the main weapon in face-to-face combat in those days,” says Dr. Joppe Gosker.
“Swords required a lot of quality iron and were therefore expensive. Furthermore, fighting with this type of weaponry required training and practice, and therefore only the nobility and professional soldiers fought with them,” he adds.
Researchers estimate that the sword fell into the sea during a battle, perhaps between warships. “Being expensive, swords are usually found in a scabbard. In this case, only the sheet was found. From this we can intuit that it fell into the sea during a battle, possibly while its owner was still holding it. We didn’t find any human remains in our scans of the place, but who knows? The warrior can still lie undiscovered in the depths, ”he explains.
The Frankish Crusader period began in 1099, with the conquest of Jerusalem, which was in the hands of the Fatimid Caliphate (the only Shia in all of history). Once control of the holy city was obtained, the efforts of the Christians concentrated on the coastal cities.
In Israel, the period of the Crusades lasted less than two hundred years. These armed pilgrimages in which both princes and nobles, knights and common people participated, had the objective of recovering the Near East region for the Catholic Church.
Access to ports was a necessary condition for the survival of the Frankish settlements, which depended on supplies from Europe. During this period, a strong connection developed with Pisa, Venice, and other Italian republics, which sent their fleets to the Holy Land to navally besiege Muslim cities.
Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority believe the sword could have been on one of these ships that besieged coastal outposts, or perhaps belonged to a crusader knight on a returning ship en route to Europe.
