Archaeology & History

Researchers scour Britain's lakes for King Arthur's sword Excalibur

By T.K. Randall
April 4, 2024 ·  5 comments

King Arthur. Image Credit: Charles Ernest Butler While the story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and their adventures in Camelot have been familiar themes in movies, books and television shows for years, the historical origins of the legend and the real-life events on which it is based have long remained a topic of academic debate.

Whether or not King Arthur even existed at all, for instance, is not exactly certain and now a team of researchers has turned its attention to the matter of finding his legendary sword Excalibur.

The story goes that Arthur threw the sword into a lake, but which lake that might be is not entirely clear.

Now in a renewed bid to actually find Excalibur, the team - which consists of archaeologists, divers, magnet fishing experts and filmmakers - is aiming to scour multiple lakes across the British Isles for the sword as part of an upcoming TV series called Weird Britain.

One location that has already been searched is an undisclosed lake in Cornwall."We've not been beaten yet and nobody has the amount of equipment we have," said magnet fishing expert Nigel Lamford. "If it's in there and it's magnetic, it's coming out."

Even if the team doesn't find the sword itself, it could still discover some interesting artefacts.

"There is much debate about the location of the lake referred to in Arthurian lore," said Weird Britain's Tim Wittard. "Identifying the lake in question is a riddle which has had historians and researchers arguing for centuries, that is if the lake even still exists - or if the legend is even true in the first place."

"This is the first time we have had the opportunity to use underwater drones or submersible ROVs alongside professional magnet fishers in an expedition of this type."

"I think it's a really innovative and fun application of the drone technology which will make for great TV."

Whether the team will succeed in finding anything at all, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Mail Online | Comments (5)

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