Moravia’s Excalibur: Bronze-Age sword unearthed near Přerov

Archaeologists at the Comenius Museum in Přerov have revealed to the public an ancient sword from the Bronze Age, found by accident in a field close to the city. The sword was a star exhibit at the museum’s recent exhibition about metal detecting.

Archaeologist Zdeněk Schenk|Photo: Muzeum Komenského v Přerově

Only thirty centimetres from the surface, a field in the Přerov area for three thousand years hid an impressive sword and a bronze axe. Nicknamed ‘the Excalibur of the Late Bronze Age’, the sword was clearly the work of a skilled craftsman, and the finds were kept secret by archaeologists for several months until the site had been fully excavated and the museum was ready to share the news. Archaeologist Zdeněk Schenk described the discovery:

“This was an accidental find by a long-time collaborator of the Comenius Museum in Přerov … It is a unique find of a bronze sword with a tongue-shaped handle, which was found together with a bronze axe, with a socket and a handle. This is really a wonderful specimen, basically the first of its kind found in the Přerov area.”

The sword likely started out as the weapon of a high-status individual, before it was committed to the ground as a votive offering. The sword is in remarkably good condition, with very few notches along its edges, and weighs 543 grams.

Archaeological finds from the Přerov region|Photo: Muzeum Komenského v Přerově

The sword featured in the Comenius Museum’s recent exhibition about the contribution that metal detecting makes to archaeology. With the exhibition over, the sword will be displayed as a regular exhibit in the suitably historical setting of the Comenius Museum, which is housed within Přerov Castle. Built in the Renaissance style, the castle has a Gothic core and elements from an older fortress, and has contained the Comenius Museum since the 1930s.

The sword and axe are by no means Czechia’s only contribution to the study of the Bronze Age though. One archaeological culture, dated roughly to between 2300 and 1600 BC and found in an area of Europe stretching from Germany to Slovakia, is the Únětice culture, named after the village of Únětice, just outside Prague, where the first burial site of the culture was excavated in 1879.

Archaeological finds from the Přerov region|Photo: Muzeum Komenského v Přerově