Museum discovers 'fake' sword on display is 3,000-year-old weapon

A museum in the U.S. has discovered that a replica sword it had on display is actually a real 3,000-year-old weapon.

Nearly 100 years ago, the Field Museum in Chicago acquired the bronze sword from Europe, but it was thought to be a well-made replica.

But a new analysis of the sword revealed that the weapon is the real deal, dating back 3,000 years to the Bronze Age.

Hungarian archaeologists working alongside Field Museum scientists asked to see the "replica" sword that had been retrieved from the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary in the 1930s. It may have been placed there in an ancient ritual 3,000 years ago to commemorate lost loved ones or a battle.

The group of Field Museum scientists, including a chemist, and archaeologists used an X-ray fluorescence detector, an instrument that looks like a ray gun. When they compared the sword's chemical make-up to other known Bronze Age swords in Europe, their content of bronze, copper, and tin was nearly identical.

Bill Parkinson, a curator of anthropology at the Field, who helped create the upcoming First Kings of Europe exhibition, said he was surprised by the results.

"Usually this story goes the other way round," he said. "What we think is an original turns out to be a fake."

The Bronze Age period is generally described as between 3300 BCE and 1000 BCE. Metalworking and long trade networks across Europe brought luxury goods to nobles across Europe. While there is no way to tell if the sword once belonged to a king, it may have been placed in the river as part of a funerary ritual or battle memorial.

The newly-authenticated sword will be installed in the Field Museum's main hall as a preview for the new exhibition, which will open on 31 March.