Student Finds Second Crusader Sword in 5 Years

Finding one Crusader sword in the Mediterranean is unusual; finding a second in nearly the same spot is something else. Israel's University of Haifa says student Shlomi Katzin has again stumbled on a 12th-century weapon off the Carmel coast, this time near Dor Beach. Katzin, a student in the Department of Maritime Civilizations who discovered a similar sword while diving in 2021, was swimming in the area when he spotted divers using a metal detector and suspected they might be after antiquities, reports the Times of Israel. He reportedly scared them off, then noticed the 3-foot-long sword in the sand and alerted archaeologists.

The blade, encased in centuries of shells and mineral deposits, was raised with the Israel Antiquities Authority's approval and sent for a CT scan at a Haifa hospital. The imaging revealed its internal structure and fragile state without stripping away the crust. Researchers say the iron sword was forged in Europe and brought by Crusader knights to the Holy Land, with only traces of the original metal surviving, though the remains reveal a fracture in the blade that could explain why it was discarded, per CBS News. With just a few such swords known in Israel, Professor Deborah Cvikel calls it an "extremely rare find" and window into how Crusaders lived and fought along what is now Israel's shoreline.