Amateur diver finds Crusader-era sword near Israel’s shorel

An amateur swimmer recovered a Crusader sword from the seabed off Dor Beach, according to Israel’s Antiquities Authority. The authority said the recovery followed the swimmer’s report after he spotted suspected antiquities thieves in the water about two and a half months earlier.

Tests indicate the meter-long (3.3-foot) weapon likely belonged to a 12th-century Crusader who brought it from Europe. It was designed for one-handed use, with only a small portion of the original iron surviving beneath a thick marine concretion of organisms and sea sediments, the authority said.

The finder, Shlomi Katzin, is a student in the University of Haifa’s Department of Maritime Civilizations. He said he was swimming when he noticed divers operating metal detectors and feared they were looting. After he drove them away, he spotted the sword in the sand and alerted Prof. Deborah Cvikel of the University of Haifa, who coordinated with the Antiquities Authority to authorize its retrieval, the University of Haifa said.

Katzin had previously encountered centuries-old artifacts in the same region. In 2021 he found stone and iron anchors, pottery shards, and a sword with a one-meter (3.3-foot) blade and a 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) handle that was later assessed as likely from the Crusader period and about 900 years old, the Antiquities Authority said.

Researchers conducted in-depth testing on the newly found sword. The work included a CT scan at Medica Elisha Hospital in Haifa to examine what remained beneath the encrusted shell and mineral layers. “The technology allowed us to peek through the layers of time and stone,” said Dr. Eyal Berkowitz, medical director of Medica Diagnostics and a lecturer at the University of Haifa’s Faculty of Medicine, in a statement.

“Using CT, we were able to see what the human eye cannot, the internal structure of the sword and its precise physical condition, all through a non-invasive examination that preserved the integrity of this rare artifact for future generations,” he said. The examination found a break in the blade and concluded that very little of the original iron remains, the Antiquities Authority said.

Archaeologists emphasized the rarity and significance of the weapon for understanding Crusader-era maritime activity along Israel’s northern coast. “This is an extremely rare find that sheds light on the Crusader presence along the country’s coast,” said Cvikel. “In Israel, only a handful of similar swords from the Crusader period are known to date, and this discovery greatly contributes to our understanding of the use of maritime anchorages and the lives of warriors during this era,” she said.

Researchers added that the sword was not manufactured in the Land of Israel but was brought from Europe, the University of Haifa said. The Crusader period in Israel began in 1099 with the conquest of Jerusalem from the Fatimid Caliphate and lasted around 200 years.

Scholars described the artifact’s broader cultural meaning as well as its practical role for medieval combatants. “Since their invention, swords have been among the most important tools in human history,” said Dr. Sara Lantos of the University of Haifa, who has studied swords previously found in Israel. “In the Middle Ages, the sword became the symbol of knights and chivalry, as well as a symbol of the Christian faith. It was also one of the most common weapons used by Crusader knights, whose lives depended on them,” she said. “Swords were valuable objects and were therefore carefully maintained and preserved,” she added. The discovery and study of “such a symbolic and personal object” are rare and offer “a unique opportunity to learn about the lives of Frankish knights in the Holy Land,” she added.