Sen­sa­tion­al dis­cov­ery: 3,000 years old Hun­gar­i­an sword found in a US muse­um Hun­gar­i­an his­to­ry Unit­ed States

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.

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.

Source: dai​ly​hun​gar​i​an​news​.com