Sensational discovery: 3,000 years old Hungarian sword found in a US museum
Nobody knew that a Chicago museum has been exhibiting a more than 3,000-year-old sword found in Hungary for decades. Hungarian archaeologists contributed to the sensational discovery. Soon the sword will be transported to Canada, but there is no news about a possible Budapest acquisition.
Some Hungarian archaeologists proved weeks ago that a sword exhibited by Chicago’s Field Museum is not a cheap replica but an original artifact made thousands of years ago in the Carpathian Basin. The museum obtained the sword almost a hundred years ago. Edgar Lopez, the institution’s PR chief, told Blikk that the blade was found in the Danube in Budapest in the 1930s. They thought then that it was only a copy. Now archaeologists discovered it was a Bronze Age original.
János Gábor Tarbay, an archaeologist at the Hungarian National Museum, contributed to the sensational discovery. He told Blikk that the first publication about the sword appeared in 1942. He is specialised in arms, so he emailed the museum requesting permission to inspect. “We learned from our American colleagues that it was only a replica. Despite that, I was curious”, Mr Tarbay highlighted.
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When he saw the sword, he realised that the blade was original. Of course, they did the needed measures, including an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, which examined the alloy. Following that, they were positive that the weapon must have been made around 1,000 BC.
Furthermore, probably the Hungarian National Museum sold it to America in the 1930s. Then purchasing works of art was legal. They spent the money received during the transaction on financing excavations or the development of the institution’s library.
Of course, that will remain a secret why its owner threw the sword into the Danube. However, we know Bronze Age fighters in the Carpathian Basin had a rite. After they finished taking part in the fight, they threw their blade into the rivers. Mayhaps that is what happened. Soon, the sword will be exhibited in Canada, and perhaps it will return to Hungary.
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Source: blikk.hu
A sword found in Hungary*
3000 years ago Hungary did not exist, neither in the steppes of Asia nor in Europe, therefore the sword is not Hungarian, and this is regardless of where it was discovered and to whom it might have belonged.