{"id":508,"date":"2021-10-25T08:30:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T08:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2021-10-25T08:30:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T08:30:17","slug":"900-year-old-crusader-sword-found-off-the-coast-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"900-year-old Crusader sword found off the coast of Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A scuba diver has found a 900-year-old\u00a0Crusader<\/a>\u00a0sword with a three-foot blade off the coast of\u00a0Israel<\/a>. The amateur diver spotted the sword and other ancient\u00a0artifacts<\/a>\u00a0on the seabed off northern Israel. He was diving when he spotted the sword, which boasts a foot-long hilt, along with stone anchors, metal anchors and pottery fragments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The sword’s blade is three feet long.
Photo: Ariel Schalit\/AP<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The diver took the sword up to the surface so it wouldn’t be stolen or covered up again, before handing it in to the IAA. The sword was found 200 meters (656 feet) from the shore, at a depth of four meters (13 feet). It`s size and shape suggest it belonged to a Crusader, as does the fact that it was found just a few kilometers from Atlit castle, a Crusader fortress. Dating from 1096 to the late 13th century, the Crusades were a set of military expeditions by Western European Christians that aimed to retake the Holy Land in the Middle East after centuries of Muslim wars of expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Crusades were a set of military expeditions by Western European Christians.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inspector for the IAA’s Robbery Prevention Unit, said the sword is a rare find that has been preserved in perfect condition.”It was found encrusted with marine organisms, but is apparently made of iron,” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Koby
Koby Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, pictured with the sword.
Photo: Ariel Schalit\/AP<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Distelfeld said in the statement.”It is exciting to encounter such a personal object, taking you 900 years back in time to a different era, with knights, armor and swords.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sword will be cleaned of encrusted stones and shells. It current weighs is around 5-6 kilograms (11-13 pounds) due to the incrustation of stones and shells, but the sword itself probably weighs 1-2 kilograms (2.2-4.4 pounds). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A scuba diver has found a 900-year-old\u00a0Crusader\u00a0sword with a three-foot blade off the coast of\u00a0Israel. The amateur diver spotted the sword and other ancient\u00a0artifacts\u00a0on the seabed off northern Israel. He was diving when he spotted the sword, which boasts a foot-long hilt, along with stone anchors, metal anchors and pottery fragments. The diver took the… Continue reading 900-year-old Crusader sword found off the coast of Israel<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mermaidthea.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}