In a remarkable moment captured on camera, Chinese archaeologists carefully drew an ancient sword from its scabbard for the first time in more than 2,300 years—and found the blade still gleaming and sharp.
The discovery took place during excavations in the ruins of Chengyang city in China’s central Henan Province. Specialists from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology uncovered the sword inside a sealed tomb belonging to an unidentified man. After the coffin was transported to a laboratory and opened, the mud-covered weapon remained inside its scabbard. Researchers painstakingly cleaned the artifact before attempting the unsheathing.
Footage shows two specialists, wearing latex gloves, slowly and delicately withdrawing the blade under laboratory lights. As it emerged, the sword appeared remarkably clean and reflective, glinting as if it had been forged far more recently. To the team’s astonishment, the edge was still sharp.
Team leader Wu Zhijiang explained that many ancient tombs in the region were completely sealed from the outside environment. This airtight isolation significantly reduced exposure to moisture and air, greatly limiting corrosion and helping preserve metal objects in near-pristine condition over millennia.
The sword is believed to date to China’s Warring States period (475–221 BC) and is associated with the Chu Kingdom. That era was defined by prolonged conflict among roughly eight rival states that battled for dominance across two and a half centuries. The struggle ultimately ended when the Qin state conquered the others and unified China.
The exceptional preservation of this weapon offers a rare, tangible connection to the martial culture of the time. While many archaeological finds from the period emerge corroded or fragmented, this blade’s condition underscores both the skill of ancient metalworkers and the protective power of a fully sealed burial environment. For researchers, the unsheathing represents not only a technical success but a vivid window into a turbulent chapter of Chinese history when warfare shaped the fate of kingdoms.