Metal detectorists searching beach after storm find 2,500-year-old weapon. See it
After a storm blew through, a pair of metal detectorists visited a beach in northern Poland. They hoped to unearth something interesting, but the 2,500-year-old weapon they uncovered left them stunned.
Jacek Ukowski and Katarzyna Herdzik took metal detectors to the coast of the Baltic Sea on March 30 and scoured the eroded cliffside. One recently collapsed lump of clay set off the device, the Museum of the History of the Kamień Region said in a Facebook post.
The pair dug into the damp clay and unearthed a highly decorated knife. Photos show the long, thin blade and its intricate design.
Herdzik immediately knew they’d found something valuable, she later told the museum.
Museum officials identified Ukowski and Herdzik’s find as a well-preserved dagger dating back at least 2,500 years to the Hallstatt period.
At the base of its blade, the ancient dagger has two rows of small crescent moon-like symbols surrounded by stars, the museum said and a close-up photo shows. More star-like shapes connected by lines run down the length of the blade, possibly symbolizing constellations.
Another photo shows the dagger’s handle, which has a series of alternating designs almost like a row of beads and rings.
“A true work of art!” Grzegorz Kurka, the director of the museum, told PAP, a Polish news outlet. “I have not seen such a dagger in my experience with findings in Polish territories.”
Ukowski told PAP that the almost 10-inch-long dagger was “my most precious discovery.”
Museum officials don’t know what the 2,500-year-old dagger was used for but offered two possibilities: it could have been linked to a solar cult and had ritual significance, or it could have belonged to a wealthy warrior.
The dagger will undergo further analysis to determine its composition and identify signs of usage, the museum said.
Museum officials did not release the exact location of the find, only specifying it had been found in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a coastal region of northwestern Poland bordering Germany.
Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate the Facebook posts from the Museum of the History of the Kamień Region.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Metal detectorists searching beach after storm find 2,500-year-old weapon. See it."
