Free Republic

The sword was discovered in 2021 by Shlomi Katzin while conducting a study of stone and metal anchors on the seabed. The area was a natural anchorage for ships near Haifa's ancient port city that the Crusaders captured from the Arabs during the early 12th century AD.In a new study published by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the researchers describe how the sword was found covered in a thick marine concretion of sand and shells, making it difficult to separate the metal without causing damage. However, the concretion slowed down the oxidation process, preserving the sword which would have rusted...

'The inscriptions were part of psychological warfare... to terrorize the opponent and unite the warriors'A 2,200-year-old lead sling bullet was recently discovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the central Israeli city of Yavne, bearing a magic inscription for victory and which possibly belonged to a Greek soldier.On the bullet is the Greek inscription "Victory of Heracles and Hauronas" – a pair of gods that were considered to be the "divine patrons of Yavne during the Hellenistic period," according to Prof. Yulia Ustinova from southern Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev."Actually, the inscription on a sling bullet is...