Girl that discovered a 1500-year-old sword
Julie Hambleton
Julie Hambleton
September 2, 2021 ·  2 min read

Girl, 8, pulled a 1500-year-old sword from a lake in Sweden

It’s not every day that you go for a swim in the lake and end up uncovering an ancient artifact. In the summer of 2018, a little girl in Sweden did just that, pulling a 1500-year-old sword out of the water. Stories like this one just never get old. (1)

Girl Pulls 1500-Year-Old Sword From Lake

Eight-year-old Saga Vanecek was on holiday with her family in Sweden’s Jonkoping County in the summer of 2018. She went for a swim in Vidostern Lake, whose water was lower than usual from a drought. She noticed something that felt like a stick and pulled it out of the water to examine it. (1)

“I felt something in the water and lifted it up. Then there was a handle and I went to tell my dad that it looked like a sword,” Saga said. (1)

Her father thought at first it was some sort of stick or branch. A friend came over to have a look when they realized that they very well had some kind of ancient relic on their hands. (1)

One Discovery Leads to Another

The sword was brought to the local museum, which first thought that the sword might be around 1,000 years old. Upon further investigation, the experts now think that it is a 1500-year-old sword from the pre-Viking era. (1)

The museum and local council then decided to excavate the lake further to see what else they might find. They found a third-century brooch and were planning on searching more for other items. (1)

Kids Find the Darndest Things: From 1500-Year-Old Sword to Dino Eggs

In July 2019, a 10-year-old boy found a nest with 66-million-year-old dinosaur eggs while playing on the banks of the Dong River in the Guangdong province of China. An avid reader of books about dinosaurs, he had a hunch that the strange-looking “rocks” he found might actually be dinosaur eggs.

He explained to his mother that he remembered the pattern on the eggs from one he saw on dinosaur eggs at the local museum. They called experts from the museum, who came and confirmed the eggs and their age.

A Diamond is a Girl’s Best Friend

In 1986, a woman from West London in the UK purchased a glass ring at a boot sale for $13 US. She kept it in a box for 33 years, when her mother was defrauded by a relative and left in financial ruin.

Later, she took the ring to a jeweler for appraisal, who found that it was not a glass ring, but in fact a 26.27-carat diamond. She auctioned it off for £740,000 ($954,000). Unsurprisingly, this ring changed both her and her mother’s life.

You Never Know What You Might Find

If these three stories prove anything, it’s that if you think you’ve found something rare or special, it’s well worth looking into it. You may have found an incredible artifact… or perhaps the key to your financial freedom.

Keep Reading: Beachgoer Discovers Monstrous-Looking Deep-Sea Fish Rarely Seen Ashore

Sources

  1. Girl, 8, pulls a 1,500-year-old sword from a lake in Sweden.” BBC. October 4, 2018.