On the bottom of Lake Mezzano in central Italy, archaeologists have raised a third bronze sword in half a century of research. The blade, dated to the thirteenth century BCE, has retained its sharpness after more than three millennia under water. The find was made on the southern shore, in a sector that had previously been almost unstudied, and is accompanied by intact vessels, a bronze axe and a razor.
The lake lies in the crater of an extinct volcano in the region of Tuscia. Beneath its surface rest the remains of a pile-dwelling settlement that existed from approximately 1700 to 1150 BCE. The settlement repeatedly changed its position because of fluctuations in the water level, and the wooden piles still protrude from the clayey bottom. Over recent campaigns, more than six hundred such supports have been documented here — only a third of the known area.
The sword belongs to the "tongue-shaped grip" type — a characteristic form of the Late Bronze Age in central Italy. Its presence together with the razor points to a connection with high-status people, possibly a warrior elite. Similar combinations have already been encountered at other sites of that period. Researchers note that the concentration of weapons and metal objects forces a reconsideration of earlier ideas about accidental losses.
The settlement maintained active exchange with other regions of the Apennine Peninsula and the Mediterranean. Traces of bronze casting among the finds suggest that metallurgy may have developed right here. The three swords discovered since the 1970s and more than twenty-five other bronze objects form an unusual collection whose origin has not yet been fully explained.
New data on the depth at which the artifacts lie and on their homogeneity help to understand how the underwater layer was formed. Archaeologists emphasize that many areas of the bottom remain unexplored, and future seasons may bring new evidence about the life and rituals of the inhabitants of the pile-dwelling settlement.
Each such recovery from the water is not merely an artifact but a reminder that even the most durable things preserve traces of human decisions and connections that have survived the centuries.
