"...Near San Vitor, in the canal of the electric power station, there is another unexplored (gallery) where the sword -which is now in Ourense Museum, was found and donated by the Balvís Count". That is how Joaquín Arias Sanjurjo describes the finding of the sword of Horcas in the Boletín de la Comisión de Monumentos de Ourense in 1914. It was found in the well-known cave Cueva de los Moros, in Tucela (parish of Horcas), when the construction of the old canal was taking place. The wife of Manuel Fernández, El Eleno, found it and handed it over to the engineering manager of the works.
The engineer in charge of the construction of the canal was the aforementioned Balvís Count (also called "El Ruca de Valverde" as he came from that parish in Allaríz). It was a lucky coincidence that he was very interested and devoted to archaeology and he gave the find to the Archaeological Provincial Museum of Ourense, where it remains today.
The sword, dating from the Middle Bronze (1295 - 100 b.C)has a bronze blade with a light central fuller and lateral degradings that make a simple bevel, and in the hilt six holes to grip remain, which could have been made of wood and which today is lost.
The works carried out between 2010 and 2011 led to the exact place where it was discovered, completing the archaeological context of a sword unique in its category and linking it to a store, maybe ritual, related to travel and rivercrossing areas.