Sep 06, 2020 09:00:00

A 10-year-old boy discovers an old sword with a metal detector

by

FilippoL1982

It was reported that a 10-year-old boy who received a metal detector on his birthday discovered an ancient sword.

Using a Metal Detector, 10-Year-Old Boy Finds Centuries-Old Sword in Northern Ireland | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/10-year-old-boy-finds-centuries-old-sword-northern-ireland-180975639/

Fionntan Fionntan, who lives in Northern Ireland, said he noticed that a metal detector was reacting when he was walking along the Blackwater River with his father and cousins for the first time. When three people pulled up a huge object from the mud, brought it home, washed it off, and found that it was a large broken sword. Although it was rusty, the sword had a solid shape with a round handle .

Fionntan with a sword and metal detector found in his hand.

Fionntan said when he discovered the sword, 'I was so thrilled because the sword is here. I didn't expect to find such a big one.'

Antique expert

Mark & David Hawkins said that the sword was 'difficult to identify from the photo' because the rust changed the size of the sword, but the round basket-shaped handle was from 1610 to 1640. It says that it looks like the Broad Sword that appeared. However, some of these designs have been used by British military officers for over a century and are therefore believed to be from the late 1600s to early 1700s.

Exploring with metal detectors is known as a hobby for some people , and between 1997 and 2016 there were archaeological discoveries using 1 million metal detectors in Britain alone. I heard that . Of course, it's not always possible to find anything with a metal detector, but it is said that the Viking treasure was found in 2016 and evidence of tax evasion in the Middle Ages was found in 2019.

Although metal detectors seem like a great opportunity for money, in the United Kingdom the Treasure Act 1996 requires discoverers of buried money and treasure to report their findings. In 2019, men et al imprisonment of five to 10 years as a failure to report despite discovered the treasure of the Vikings in 2015 has been sentenced .

In the case of Fionntan, after his sword was discovered, his father contacted Greer Ramsey, an archaeologist curator at the National Museum of Northern Ireland. Ramsey is investigating the details of the sword at the time of writing the article. Fionntan is worried about the deterioration of his sword and commented, 'Leaving rusty in the garage is the least thing I want to do'. It seems that Fionntan and his family want to save and display the sword in the museum, but due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), it is difficult to hand over to a specialist. Is that.