- Archaeology
A stone being used in the foundation of an old barn in the Czech Republic turned out to be a Bronze Age spearhead mold.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
The ancient spearhead mold shows the shape of spearheads created during the Bronze Age.
(Image credit: M. Salaš et al. (2025); CC BY 4.0)
- Copy link
- X
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
Become a Member in Seconds
Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered Daily
Daily Newsletter
Sign up for the latest discoveries, groundbreaking research and fascinating breakthroughs that impact you and the wider world direct to your inbox.
Signup +
Once a week
Life's Little Mysteries
Feed your curiosity with an exclusive mystery every week, solved with science and delivered direct to your inbox before it's seen anywhere else.
Signup +
Once a week
How It Works
Sign up to our free science & technology newsletter for your weekly fix of fascinating articles, quick quizzes, amazing images, and more
Signup +
Delivered daily
Space.com Newsletter
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
Signup +
Once a month
Watch This Space
Sign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.
Signup +
Once a week
Night Sky This Week
Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!
Signup +Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletterA seemingly dull rectangular stone, used as part of a foundation for an old barn in a Czech garden, is actually half of a rare Bronze Age mold used to make spearheads, a new study finds.
The almost 9-inch-long (23 centimeters) mold, carved into a volcanic rock known as rhyolite tuff, dates to the Late Bronze Age, around 1350 B.C.
"This is the best preserved and most perfect casting mold for a bronze spearhead in Central Europe," study first author Milan Salaš, an archaeologist at the Moravian Museum in the Czech Republic, told Live Science in an email. "Based on the shape of the spearhead and the type of raw material used … the mold was imported to southern Moravia from northern Hungary."
Article continues below You may like-
Subterranean tunnel, possibly used for medieval cult rituals, discovered in Stone Age tomb in Germany
-
Stone Age boy in Sweden was buried in deerskin and a woodpecker headdress, archaeologists discover
-
7,500-year-old deer skull headdress discovered in Germany indicates hunter-gatherers shared sacred items and ideas with region's first farmers
The newfound 2.4-pound (1.1 kilograms) mold matches others from the Urnfield culture, which emerged during the mid-second millennium B.C. and is known for cremating and burying the dead in urns in field cemeteries.
In their analysis, Salas and his colleagues wrote how molds like this one made it possible to cast metal tools and weapons, such as spearheads, axes and daggers, with greater uniformity. This, in turn, would have made armed conflict easier to sustain, and also strengthened the trade and political power of cultures in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, they wrote in the study, which was published in the journal Archeologické Rozhledy (Czech for "Archaeological Views") in 2025.
"These types of spearheads, characterized by ribs along the blade and a sharp ridge on the socket, are common in the Carpathian region," Salaš told Radio Prague International, the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. "It was essentially [a] serial production. As we can see, the mould was used very intensively. Possibly dozens of spearheads were cast from it."
The stone was discovered by homeowner J. Tomanec in 2007, after he noticed the gray slab sticking slightly out of the ground, where it likely fell after being used in a barn foundation. In 2019, Tomanec gave the stone to the Moravian Museum, where Salaš examined it more closely using X-ray fluorescence scans to determine which elements made up the mold.
Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter nowContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over."It was proven that bronze was cast in the mold and that both halves of the mold were held together with copper wire," Salaš told Live Science via email.
The mold's backstory
To trace the mold's origins, study co-author Antonín Přichystal, a professor of geology at Masaryk University, worked with Salaš and used X-ray diffraction, a technique that determines the atomic structure of certain crystalline solids, like stone. This determined that the mold was made out of rhyolite tuff, which is commonly found in the Bükk Mountains in Hungary or around the nearby city of Salgótarján.
About 20 million years ago, there was a huge volcano in the area that produced an "enormous quantity of the tuff," Přichystal said. "Unfortunately, we are not able to determine precisely the site where the mold was prepared but generally its provenance is evident (northern Hungary up to southeastern Slovakia)," he told Live Science in an email.
What to read next-
Tumba Madžari Great Mother: A boxy goddess figurine from North Macedonia designed to protect Stone Age houses 7,800 years ago
-
160,000-year-old sophisticated stone tools discovered in China may not have been made by Homo sapiens
-
Stone Age woman was buried like a man, revealing flexible gender roles 7,000 years ago in Hungary
—Sword fighting with Bronze Age weapons is really hard, scientists learn
—Ritually bent Bronze Age sword unearthed in Danish bog is 'very rare find'
—Mushroom hunter unearths gorgeous Bronze Age sword
While other Bronze Age weapons and armor have been found in nearby areas in the Carpathian Basin, the mold gives a behind-the-scenes look at how these items were created.
"In this case, heavy scorching and traces of heat clearly demonstrate its repeated use and the serial production of bronze castings," Salaš said.
Oftentimes, Urnfield-period casting molds are found at settlements; more rarely, they're uncovered in burials as grave goods. It's unclear how a spearhead mold from the Urnfield culture ended up in the man's yard, but it was "most likely redeposited in modern times from an Urnfield Period site in the vicinity," the authors wrote in the study."
This interesting case shows how long the journey from the discovery of a unique archaeological object (2007) to its scientific evaluation in a professional journal (2025) can sometimes be," Přichystal said.
Article SourcesSalaš, M., Přichystal, A., Petřík, J., Slavíček, K., Všianský, D., & Nosek, V. (2025). A unique stone mould for casting a spearhead from Morkůvky in South Moravia as an example of long-distance import in the Urnfield Period, and its technological contribution. Archeologické Rozhledy, 77(2). https://doi.org/10.35686/ar.2025.272
Archaeology Fragments Quiz: Can you work out what these mysterious artifacts are?
Kenna Hughes-CastleberryContent Manager, Live ScienceKenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Content Manager at Live Science. Formerly, she was the Content Manager at Space.com and before that the Science Communicator at JILA, a physics research institute. Kenna is also a book author, with her upcoming book 'Octopus X' scheduled for release in spring of 2027. Her beats include physics, health, environmental science, technology, AI, animal intelligence, corvids, and cephalopods.
View MoreYou must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Logout Read more
Subterranean tunnel, possibly used for medieval cult rituals, discovered in Stone Age tomb in Germany
Stone Age boy in Sweden was buried in deerskin and a woodpecker headdress, archaeologists discover
7,500-year-old deer skull headdress discovered in Germany indicates hunter-gatherers shared sacred items and ideas with region's first farmers
Tumba Madžari Great Mother: A boxy goddess figurine from North Macedonia designed to protect Stone Age houses 7,800 years ago
160,000-year-old sophisticated stone tools discovered in China may not have been made by Homo sapiens
Stone Age woman was buried like a man, revealing flexible gender roles 7,000 years ago in Hungary
Latest in Archaeology
Russian Revolution gold coin hoard worth over $500,000 discovered during house construction
Europe's oldest handgun may date to 14th-century siege at German castle
Pre-Inca culture acquired Amazonian parrots from hundreds of miles away to use their feathers to decorate the dead, new analysis reveals
2,000-year-old Phoenician coin was used as bus fare in England, but 'how it got there will always be a mystery'
'Cikai Korran came here and saw': Visitors from India graffitied dozens of Egyptian tombs 2,000 years ago
The sword in the sea: How one lucky graduate student found his second Crusader sword while taking a swim off Israel's coast
Latest in News
Russian Revolution gold coin hoard worth over $500,000 discovered during house construction
'Rectal garlic insertion for immune support': Medical chatbots confidently give disastrously misguided advice, experts say
Scientists squished microbes into a steel 'sandwich' — and made a profound discovery about life in space
Europe's oldest handgun may date to 14th-century siege at German castle
Universe-shaking collision of black hole and neutron star could upend our understanding of monster cosmic mergers
Vernal equinox 2026: When is the first day of spring?
LATEST ARTICLES- 1'Rectal garlic insertion for immune support': Medical chatbots confidently give disastrously misguided advice, experts say
- 2Russian Revolution gold coin hoard worth over $500,000 discovered during house construction
- 3The world is being held hostage by its reliance on oil. How can we break free from the fossil fuel?
- 4Europe's oldest handgun may date to 14th-century siege at German castle
- 5Scientists squished microbes into a steel 'sandwich' — and made a profound discovery about life in space
