How did an 18th century Asian sword end up at the bottom of a river in Wales?
Fishermen and outdoorsmen and women find all kinds of strange things from time to time. But a Welsh fisherman found something completely unexpected while casting a net in the River Towy in Wales, an 18th century sword. And what's stranger, it's believed to have origins in Asia.
"I was out one night in my coracle (a type of boat) and the net was cast, when I pulled it in there was this sword in there," Andrew Davies, the fisherman who found the sword, told Wales Online.
He later took the sword to the Carmarthenshire Musem where curator Gavin Evans is looking further into the strange blade's origins and has forwarded photos to another museum in London. "I haven't heard anything back from the museum yet but the sword is of Asian origin, south east Asia, Malaysia."
But how exactly the blade ended up in a Welsh river is a total mystery. The blade wasn't even found in a remote area. It was netted between two bridges and right behind a store on the bank. Everything from being lost by someone coming into port to a discarded murder weapon is being tossed around as an explanation.
Of course, it is unlikely anyone will ever know for sure. Evans believes the sword spent most of its time in the Towy buried in mud, which preserved it.
Every once in a while an old weapon seems to pop up and is found either by fishermen or hunters. In Iceland last year, some hunters stumbled across a 1,000-year-old Viking sword. And in Norway back in 2015, a similar sword was found by a hiker on a fishing trip.
Why can't I ever find anything this cool while out hunting and fishing?
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