Posted on 09/06/2014 8:39:58 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
BEIJING: A 3000-year-old bronze sword has been discovered in a local river by an 11-year-old child in east China's Jiangsu Province.
Yang Junxi discovered the rusty sword on July 2 when he was playing near the Laozhoulin River in Gaoyou County.
While washing hands in the river, Yang touched the tip of something hard and fished out the metal sword. He took it home and gave it to his father Yang Jinhai.
Upon hearing the news, people began flocking to Yang's home, Jinhai said.
"Some people even offered high prices to buy the the sword, but I felt it would be illegal to sell the cultural relic," Jinhai told sate-run Xinhua news agency.
After considering his options, the father sent the sword to the Gaoyou Cultural Relics Bureau on September 3.
The bureau arranged a joint team of local cultural relics experts to identify the sword. They identified sword's material, length, shape and other major factors.
Initial identifications found the 26-cm-long yellow-brown sword could be dated back to more than 3,000 years ago, around the time of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, said Lyu Zhiwei, head of the cultural relics office of the bureau.
"There was no characteristic or decorative pattern on the exquisite bronze sword. Made in a time of relatively low productivity, its owner would have been an able man with the qualification to have such artifact," he said.
"The short sword seems a status symbol of a civil official. It has both decorative and practical functions, but is not in the shape of sword for military officers," he said. It is the second bronze artifact found in the region after a bronze instrument was excavated in the nearby Sanduo Township.
The sword was found in the Laozhoulin River, which crosses the ancient Ziying River which was excavated in the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC).
It also interlinks the ancient Han Ditch as the "predecessor" of China's Grand Canal, the world's longest artificial waterway with a history of more than 2,400 years.
The 1,794km canal runs from Beijing to Hangzhou in China's eastern Zhejiang Province. It was entered into the World Heritage list in June 2014.
The city has conducted several rounds of dredging in the Laozhoulin River, which might surface the sword from the river bottom, said Lyu, adding the township government has prepared a further archeological dig into the river and in the nearby areas.
The relics bureau and municipal museum of Gaoyou City have sent the collection certificates and bonus for the boy and his father in honour of their deeds of protecting and donating cultural relic.
that was my response - right.
and it got better when he “considered his options”.
lol propoganda.
I can’t tell if the pommel is round, or more flat, but with that full length fuller and lack of much taper that’s almost a Viking sword shape.
If the pommel is round, it would be very much like a gladius.
It's theme throughout history.. in a river, out a window, from a lamp-post... whatever. It has a long an honorable tradition, and I'm for it whenever I get a chance. ;)
/johnny
LOL
Wait for winter and use ‘em for wind chimes...
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Maybe a child's 'sword'.
Either for practical purpose or ceremonial purposes?
The sad part is that when I read the part about the rusty bronze sword and someone who heard me laugh asked what was I laughing at. I told them to read the article and they said “what, I don’t get it”.
I had to explain.
In the words of Lloyd Bridges in Airplane “I guess I chose the wrong week to quit smoking”
At 26 cm (.85 feet or just over 10 inches) doesn’t seem like much if a sword - maybe a dagger but no sword
........... bonus for the boy and his father in honour of their deeds of protecting and donating cultural relic..........
Here’s a pound of rice for you, kid!
LOL. One could only hope. (Last words: "From my wet dead hands!")
Does that letting on the scabbard say, “Bob?”
“...Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC)...”
15 years is a dynasty?
A human poniard would be a broadsword ... to a hobbit.
Yang Junxi discovered the rusty sword on July 2 when he was playing near the Laozhoulin River in Gaoyou County.
Bronze does not rust
That is why it is used for outdoor statuary.
Gee, I put it down for just a minute to tweet that loser, Ken... Anybody see my sword?...
Arnold probably lost it the first time he portrayed Conan in a play.
I believe that is a Getty images photo and not the actual sword that was found.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxAVP8EIAAAt178.jpg:large
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