Aju Business Daily

South Korean archeologists have discovered a well-preserved Bronze Age dagger and human bones together for the first time in history from an ancient tomb, a state body said Thursday.

The excavation was made on the site for a new home in the eastern town of Pyeongchang, which will host the 2018 winter Olympics, the Culture Heritage Administration said in a statement.

Along with a human skeleton, a violin-shaped, 26.3-centimeter-long dagger used as a weapon or in ancestral rites was discovered from a 2.04-meter stone tomb, it said.

The Liaoning bronze dagger culture is an archaeological complex of the late Bronze Age on the Korean peninsula and in northern China. Violin-shaped daggers are seen as the most characteristic of the culture.

It's the first time that archaeologists have excavated a violin-shaped Bronze Age dagger and human bones together in South Korea, the administration said.

Yoon-Seok-in, an archeologist, said a DNA test should be conducted to acquire more information about the owner of the tomb. The remains have been relatively well preserved because limestones were used for the tomb, which appeared to have been made in 500 BC. At the historic site, 14 stone tombs have been discovered so far.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com