VALENCIA, SPAIN—Newsweek reports that a sword discovered in 1994 in a historic section of Valencia has been dated to the tenth century A.D. by the Archaeology Service of the Valencia City Council (SIAM) through analysis of the sediment layers at the site. Islamic rule of the Iberian Peninsula began in A.D. 711 and ended in 1492, making the sword the first Islamic-era weapon to be found in Valencia. The sword has a slightly curved blade and measures about 18 inches long. Its hilt is decorated with bronze plates. Because of its size and its lack of a hand guard, SIAM researchers suggest it may have been used by a horseman. Based upon the shape of the weapon, it had been previously thought to have been crafted by the Germanic Visigoths, who ruled the region from the fifth to the eighth centuries A.D. To read about a twelfth-century Islamic bathhouse discovered in Seville, go to "Bathing at the Bar."
