Story By:  Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Central European News 

An ancient 4,000-year-old sword has been seized by Polish customs officers after the Bronze Age blade was put in the post marked as cheap ‘interior decorations’ .

The incident took place when customs staff in the city of Debica in the south-eastern Polish region of Podkarpackie Voivodeship noticed eight wrapped packages in protective foil that were labelled ‘interior decorations’. The customs declaration said the contents had a value of just 8 PLN (0.2 GBP), according to reports.

The 20-inch sword, which had been somehow shattered into eight fragments, dates back to the Bronze Age between 2,300 and 700 BC.

Customs officers reportedly scanned the packages and found the eight fragments of rusted metal which when placed together formed the ancient sword.

Reports said the packages’ final destination was an address in the Czech Republic.

According to local experts, the badly-damaged sword originally had decorative surface patterns.

They believe some of the damage was caused during the excavation process.

At the moment, it is unclear where the sword was excavated and whether anyone has been arrested by the local authorities.

The artefact is now in the care of the authorities who are still trying to establish where it came from, according to local media.

Bronze Age swords, which were mainly made of 10 percent tin and 90 percent copper, were rarely longer than 30 inches at the time.

Originally developed from the dagger, they first appeared around the 17th century BC in the Aegean and Black Sea regions and became more widespread in central Europe and Britain, as well as eastern and central Asia, northern India and China, towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

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