Yang Junxi was washing his hands in the Laozhoulin River in Linze Township when he found the weapon.
Historians say the relic could date back 3,000 years to the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
BY JOEL LANDAU
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, September 9, 2014,
An 11-year-old boy found a 3,000 year-old bronze sword when washing his hands in a river in July.
Yang Junxi had lunged into the Laozhoulin River in Linze Township when he retrieved the historical relic, the state news agency Xinhua reported
The child took the sword home, where it immediately became a local attraction as people flocked to the family's house.
"Some people even offered high prices to buy the sword, but I felt it would be illegal to sell the cultural relic," the boy's father, Yang Jinhai, told Xinhua.
Under Chinese law, relics are property of the government and the father submitted it to his county's Cultural Relics Bureau last week, the agency reported.
Historians say the 26-centimeter, or 10-inch, yellow-brown sword could date back 3,000 years to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the news outlet reported.
The bronze sword found by a Chinese boy could be as old as 3,000 years
There were few swords made during that period, so experts say they believe the ancient weapon was owned by a person of wealth and status.
"The short sword seems a status symbol of a civil official. It has both decorative and practical functions, but is not in the shape of sword for military officers," local historian Lyu Zhiwei told Xinhua.
The agency reported that the sword might have been dug up due to a series of recent dredging projects in the river.
No comments:
Post a Comment