Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:A construction crew discovered a 1,000-year-old iron sword in the Netherlands still fully intact. A medieval sword defied the elements for 1,000 years, preserved in riverbed clay, until it was recently discovered by a construction crew along the Korte Linschoten River in the Netherlands. The three-foot-long, 1.85-pound iron sword features a six-inch cross guard and a Brazil nut-shaped pommel, common for the 11th century Frankish swords, according to Archaeology Magazine. Offering a sword to a river was a common way to honor a dead fighter or sacrifice to the land. Medieval swords were highly personal possessions, often buried with the owners, according to the museum, so few are preserved as well as this one.