BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC—Live Science reports that half of a Bronze Age mold for making spearheads was discovered in a barn foundation in the Czech Republic. The rectangular piece of carved rhyolite tuff, a type of volcanic stone, measures about nine inches long. “This is the best preserved and most perfect casting mold for a bronze spearhead in Central Europe,” said Milan Salaš of the Moravian Museum. The shape of the spearhead carved into the stone and the type of stone show that the mold had been made in northern Hungary and imported to southern Moravia, he added. This mold matches other molds known to have been made by the Bronze Age Urnfield culture, and would have produced weapons found in the Carpathian region. “In this case, heavy scorching and traces of heat clearly demonstrate its repeated use and the serial production of bronze castings,” Salaš explained. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Archeologické Rozhledy. To read about another artifact made by the Urnfield culture, go to "A Shining Example."
