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700-year-old weapon unearthed by metal detectorist searching forest in Poland. See it

A man searching the forest with a metal detector stumbled on 700-year-old buried treasure, archaeologists said. Photo shows a representative forest in Poland.
A man searching the forest with a metal detector stumbled on 700-year-old buried treasure, archaeologists said. Photo shows a representative forest in Poland. Photo from Marcin Jozwiak via Unsplash

Łukasz Jabłoński walked through the forest in southern Poland, sweeping his metal detector across the ground. When the device went off, he dug into the soil — and uncovered a centuries-old weapon.

Jabłoński had stumbled on an iron spearhead, about 700 to 1,000 years old, the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments said in a July 12 news release.

The metallic treasure has a diamond-shaped blade at the top and cone-like sleeve at the bottom, photos show. The full pointed blade is about 9.5 inches long and would be attached to a shaft for use as a weapon, archaeologists said.

The rusted iron spearhead.
The rusted iron spearhead. Photo from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments
The spearhead as seen from the side.
The spearhead as seen from the side. Photo from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments

Jabłoński found the spearhead buried about 6 inches underground in the forest near Tereszpol, officials said. Tereszpol is about 160 miles southeast of Warsaw.

Despite being rusty, archaeologists said the spearhead is still in good condition. The artifact was given to officials and will be transferred to the Museum of the Biłgoraj Land.

Jabłoński previously uncovered a treasure trove of 13 bronze artifacts from about 2,500 years ago.

Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate the news release from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

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This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 11:02 AM with the headline "700-year-old weapon unearthed by metal detectorist searching forest in Poland. See it."

Aspen Pflughoeft
McClatchy DC
Aspen Pflughoeft covers real-time news for McClatchy. She is a graduate of Minerva University where she studied communications, history, and international politics. Previously, she reported for Deseret News.
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