A student swimming off Dor Beach near Haifa, Israel, has discovered a three-foot-long sword dating back to the 12th century Crusades. Shlomi Katsin, a student at the University of Haifa, initially spotted divers and, fearing they were antiquities thieves, intervened. He then found the sword protruding from the seafloor.
The sword, recovered with permission from the Israel Antiquities Authority, was brought to a conservation lab and then to a hospital for a CT scan. The scan revealed it was a one-handed sword, likely belonging to a European Crusader warrior. Despite significant corrosion from time and sea, the discovery provides a unique opportunity to study the lives of knights during the Crusades in Israel. Experts note the rarity of such finds, emphasizing its contribution to understanding maritime activities and warrior life of that era.