13 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Iron Age Warriors Bend the Swords of Their Defeated Enemies

Archaeologists from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) announced that a metal detector has discovered “one of the largest Iron Age weapon stacks in West Germany”.

LWL archaeologist Prof. Dr. Michael Baales, head of the Olpe branch, reported the find. The finds are of paramount importance to archeology in the country and shed light on the cult actions of Iron Age warriors after a military conflict.

According to Manuel Zeiler, an archaeologist at LWL, the hoard includes more than 150 items, including intentionally bent arms such as 40 spearhead and lancehead tips, knives, and pieces of shield bosses (round structures at the center of a shield); tools; belt hooks; horse gear; three silver coins; bronze jewelry; and one fibula, or lower leg bone, told Live Science.

“The arsenal is the largest in [the German state of] North Rhine-Westphalia and also links the [state’s region of] Sauerland with complex processes in Iron Age Europe,” Michael Baales, an LWL archaeologist and head of the Olpe branch in North Rhine-Westphalia, said in a translated statement, released March 31.

Moreover, the damaged weapons — which ancient people would have purposefully destroyed by bending them — shed light on how victorious Iron Age warriors treated the losing side’s arsenal, Baales said.

The finds are not new in Wilzenberg, earlier in the 1950s, two swords wrapped in two spearheads and two lanceheads were found by chance. Not only were the swords bent, but their ends were deliberately deformed.

New finds. Photo: LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen / Hermann Menne
New finds. Photo: LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen / Hermann Menne

The hillfort, according to Zeiler, is situated on the Wilzenberg range, which stands at 2,158 feet (658 meters). The ancient hillfort, known as the Wallburg, was visited by people during the Iron Age, roughly from 300 B.C. to the birth of Christ, and the walls of the ancient hillfort are still visible today, often by tourists and hikers who frequent the mountain.

Most of the artifacts from the hoard date to about 300 B.C. to the first century B.C., although the coins and the swords had a more narrow window of only the first century B.C., Zeiler said.

Although the hillfort at Wilzenberg is far from Celtic cultural centers in other parts of continental Europe, its architecture and the hoard’s bent objects are “comparable with Celtic culture,” according to Zeiler. Celtic and other Iron Age cultures are known to have bent defeated enemy weapons in a manner similar to the newfound hoard.

The new analysis of the hoard shows that “far away from the Celtic civilization, people celebrated a triumph after battle similar to the Celtic world,” Zeiler told Live Science.

Despite the many weapons and parts of horse gear found at the hillfort, there’s no evidence of an epic battle there, Zeiler noted. “The damage was clearly not caused during a fight, and consequently the Wilzenberg is not a battlefield,” Zeiler said in the LWL statement. Many of the weapons cannot be precisely dated, so it’s not clear whether they were damaged and laid down over the centuries, or whether they were deliberately twisted at a single event, he said.

Photo: LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen / Hermann Menne

Related Articles

3,400-Year-Old Jade and Stone Workshop Site Discovered at Sanxingdui Ruins

26 July 2024

26 July 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered a jade and stone processing site that dates back over 3,400 years at the Sanxingdui Ruins in...

New Study reveals how England’s ‘White Queen’ worshipped a disembowelled saint at the Chapel of St Erasmus

5 December 2022

5 December 2022

A new study reveals the story of how England’s “White Queen”, Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, once worshipped at...

Hima, a rock art site in Saudi Arabia, added to the UNESCO World Heritage List

24 July 2021

24 July 2021

The rock art site Hima in Najran has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming the sixth registered...

A Hoard of Gold and Silver Roman Coins Dating Back to the Reign of Emperor Nero was Found in Worcestershire

7 December 2024

7 December 2024

A hoard of Roman and Iron Age silver coins dating back to Emperor Nero’s reign has been found during building...

Unique 6,000-Year-Old Sacred Hearths and Karaz Pottery Discovered at Tadım Mound in Elazığ

28 March 2025

28 March 2025

Archaeological excavations at Tadım Castle and Tadım Mound (Tadım Höyük), located within the borders of Tadım Village in Elazığ, continue...

2,700-year-old Military Roman Port Found in Parion, Türkiye

18 July 2024

18 July 2024

Underwater studies in Parion, a 2,700-year-old port city from the Roman Empire in Kemer village of Biga district of Çanakkale...

More evidence shows Vikings came to North America before Columbus

22 May 2023

22 May 2023

Although the discovery of North America is synonymous with Christopher Columbus, new research reveals that Viking sailors landed on the...

Excavations at Sheffield Castle Reveal the First Surviving Examples of 17th-Century Civil War Abatis

9 March 2025

9 March 2025

Excavations at Sheffield Castle, part of the Castlegate regeneration project by Sheffield City Council, have revealed the first known surviving...

Underground Tunnels Discovered in Cusco, Reviving Inca Legends

31 January 2025

31 January 2025

Underground tunnels, long rumored in local legends, have been discovered beneath Cusco, Peru, the former capital of the Inca Empire....

Portugal’s Enigmatic Roman Building “Tower of Centum Cellas”

4 February 2024

4 February 2024

The Tower of Centum Cellas (also known as the “Tower of St. Cornelius”), located in the Mount of Santo Antão...

Archeologists unearth largest rare wooden “Haniwa” Statue in Japan

10 December 2022

10 December 2022

The remains of a 3.5-meter-tall wooden “haniwa” statue have been discovered at one of the “kofun” ancient burial mounds that...

Egypt unearths ancient quarters of mining leader in the Sinai Peninsula during the Middle Kingdom

19 January 2022

19 January 2022

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced recently that an Egyptian archaeological mission working in Wadi Al-Nasab in South...

Kurt Tepesi: The Silent Sentinel in the Shadows of Göbeklitepe and Karahan Tepe – Unearthing the Forgotten Sister

31 May 2025

31 May 2025

In the arid plains of southeastern Anatolia, a quiet giant slumbers. While Göbekli Tepe has dazzled archaeologists and the global...

6,000-Year-Old “Kołobrzeg Venus”: A Remarkable Neolithic Discovery on the Baltic Coast

20 June 2025

20 June 2025

A remarkable archaeological discovery has emerged from the sandy shores of Poland’s Baltic coast near Kołobrzeg—a 6,000-year-old female figurine now...

‘Exceptional’ Viking Age silver treasure found in Norway

27 October 2022

27 October 2022

A treasure trove of silver fragments from the Viking Age has been discovered in Stjørdal, near Trondheim in central Norway....