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Metal detectorists searching for World War II artefact in a forest in Poland stumbled upon something far older : a nearly 2,000 - twelvemonth - sure-enough brand purposefully broken into three piece . The weapon system may have been a funeral offering for a fallen member of theVandals , a Germanic clan renowned for sacking Rome in the fifth one C .
In January , two detectorists with theInventum Associationhistory club discovered the sword in the Jura , a craggy and forested region of southern Poland . A preliminary analysis by expert at the nearby Częstochowa Museum suggests the weapon was a double - adjoin spatha , a broadsword most commonly used by Germanic knight - climb warrior during the time of theRoman Empire . From the third 100 B.C. to the 5th C A.D. , Poland was inhabited by hoi polloi of the Przeworsk culture , which include the Vandals .
The broken sword discovered by metal detectorists in the Jura area of Poland.
" The sword was owned by an influential person from the Vandal tribes , " Mariusz Włudarz , president of the Inventum Association , told Live Science in a translated email . " The sword was broken into three piece of music during the funeral ceremony of the warrior and direct on a cremation pyre . "
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Deliberately damaged weapons — admit dead set or broken steel , notch blades and flattened carapace — areoften found in Przeworsk graves . This practice may have originated with theCeltsand is sometimes call ritual killing or sacrificing of weapons .
" Currently , research on this sword is afoot and is being behave in the Częstochowa Museum , " Włudarz pronounce . Inventum Association detectorists hope to help by further searching the find pip , whose specific location is being hold open secret while depth psychology is on-going .
" After initial inquiry , the brand will undergo preservation and will likely be show in theMokra Museum , " Włudarz said .
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