ROME, ITALY—A bronze sword, axes, arrowheads, daggers, spearheads, pins, and a razor have been recovered from central Italy’s Lake Mezzano by researchers from Italy’s Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the Province of Viterbo and Southern Etruria and the Carabinieri Underwater Unit of Rome, according to a Gizmodo report. The sword, which is still sharp, has been dated to the thirteenth century B.C. on the basis of its design. The collection of objects suggests that a settlement made up of dwellings set on piles may have occupied the area during the Bronze Age. The inhabitants may have deposited the objects in the lake as part of ritual or cult practices. To read about pile dwellings built by Bronze Age farmers in the Alps, go to “Pioneers of Lakefront Living.”
