Sword of Goujian The Sword of Goujian ( Traditional Chinese : 越王勾踐劍 , Simplified Chinese : 越王勾践剑 ) is an archaeological artifact of the Spring and Autumn Period ( 771 to 403 BCE ) found in 1965 in Hubei , China . Renowned for its sharpness and resistance to tarnish , this historical artifact of ancient China is currently in the possession of the Hubei Provincial Museum . Discovery . In 1965 , while an archaeological survey was being performed along the second main aqueduct of the Zhang River Reservoir in Jingzhou , Hubei , more than fifty ancient tombs of the Chu State were found in Jiangling County . The dig started in the middle of October 1965 and ended in January 1966 . More than 2 , 000 artifacts were recovered from the sites , including a bronze sword . In December 1965 , from the ruins of Jinan , an ancient capital of Chu , a casket was discovered at Wangshan site # 1 . Inside , an ornate bronze sword was found with a human skeleton . The sword was found sheathed in a wooden scabbard finished in black lacquer . The scabbard had an almost air - tight fit with the sword body . Unsheathing the sword revealed an untarnished blade , despite the tomb being soaked in underground water for over 2 , 000 years . Identification . On one side of the blade , two columns of text are visible . Eight characters are written in an ancient script . The script was found to be Bird - worm seal script ( literally " birds and worms characters " owing to the intricate decorations of the defining strokes ) , a variant of seal script . Initial analysis of the text deciphered six of the characters , " King of Yue " ( 越王 ) and " made this sword for [ his ] personal use " ( 自作用剑 ) . The remaining two characters were likely the name of this King of Yue . From its origin in 510 BCE to its demise at the hands of Chu in 334 BCE , nine kings ruled Yue , including Goujian , Lu Cheng , Bu Shou , Zhu Gou , and others . The identity of this king sparked debate among archeologists and Chinese language scholars . The discussion was carried out mostly in letters , and it involved famous scholars such as Guo Moruo . After more than two months , the experts started to form a consensus that the original owner of the sword was Goujian , the King of Yue made famous by his perseverance in time of hardship . So the entirety of the text reads " [ Belonging to ] King Goujian of Yue , made for [ his ] personal use " ( 越王勾践 自作用劍 ) . Construction . The sword of Goujian is in length , including a hilt ; the blade is wide at its base . The sword weighs . In addition to the repeating dark rhombi pattern on both sides of the blade , there are decorations of blue crystals and turquoise . The grip of the sword is bound by silk , while the pommel is composed of eleven concentric circles . Chemical composition . The Sword of Goujian still has a sharp blade and shows no signs of tarnish . To understand why , scientists at Fudan University and CAS used modern equipment to determine the chemical composition of the sword , as shown in the table below . Amount of element by percentage . The body of the blade is mainly made of copper , making it more pliant and less likely to shatter ; the edges have more tin content , making them harder and capable of retaining a sharper edge ; the sulfur decreases the chance of tarnish in the patterns . It is likely that the chemical composition , along with the almost air - tight scabbard , led to the exceptional state of preservation .