A 700-year-old sword has been dubbed the ‘real-life Excalibur’ after it was discovered stuck in a rock in a Bosnian river.
The legend of King Arthur claims that he was the only one who was able to pull a sword from stone, but this recently uncovered blade seems to have brought the legend to life.
The tale goes that King Arthur was the only person who was able to remove the sword called Excalibur from stone, which made him the rightful heir to Britain in the 5th century.
The Sun reports that the sword was discovered in the 150-mile long Vrbas River, when archaeologists were excavating a castle close by in the city of Zvecaj.
Ivana Pandzic, archaeologist and curator at the Museum of the Republika Srpska, told the outlet that the sword was stuck in “a solid rock, so special care was needed when pulling it out”.
The discovery, which occurred in 2019, was made an impressive 36 feet underwater, and it has been hailed as a significant find. Only one other similar sword has been uncovered in the Balkans in the last 90 years.
The blade is thought to have come from the 14th century, and has left experts baffled as to how it ended up embedded in the rock.
Igor Radojicic, who is mayor of the nearby city of Banja Luja, tweeted about the event.
“Our sword in stone … taken out of Vrbas after who knows how many centuries,” Radojicic said, via Fox News.
In a separate post he said that the sword was potentially “8 centuries-old” and “who knows what stories [it is] hiding.”
