Archaeologists working on the Spanish holiday island of Majorca (Mallorca) have made a surprising discovery. They came across a 3,200-year-old sword, completely by accident at a Bronze Age site. It is one of the few weapons from that era found on the island. The find is allowing experts to have a better understanding of the mysterious Tailiotic culture.

Experts discovered the sword at the “Talaiot del Serral de ses Abelles archaeological site in the municipality of Puigpunyent” on the Balearic Island of Majorca reports the Archaeology Network. The site contains a talayot (or talaiot) as they are known locally. These are stone megaliths that date from 1000 to 6000 BC. They were built by the Tailiotic culture, that flourished on the islands of Majorca and Menorca. The talayot in Puigpunyent was first excavated by the Majorcan archaeologist and historian Guillem Rossello Bordoy, in the 1950s.

The team was preparing the location to be opened as a museum for visitors when they unearthed the sword. Two archaeologists at the site picked up a rock and they saw something protruding from the ground. In a video released by the team, they are shown carefully removing mud and earth from the unidentified item. To their amazement, a sword was revealed.

Jaume Deya and Pablo Galera, the head archaeologists at the site hailed the discovery as “a huge surprise” reports the Archaeology Network. They believed that nothing else would be found because the site had been thoroughly excavated over the years. Moreover, the megalith had been looted in the ancient past, by Romans and others.

source: ancient-origins.net