An ornate 3,000-year-old ritual dagger was found on a beach in Poland.

The knife, believed to have belonged to a civilization of sun worshippers, is reportedly from the Hallstatt period and dates back to the Early Iron Age, between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE.

The metal dagger was discovered on Sunday, March 30, by members of the St. Cordula Association for the Saving of Monuments, on a Baltic Sea beach.

Footage shows the weapon being handled after it was found embedded in a piece of clay that had fallen off a cliff.

Jacek Ukowski, the President of the Association, can be seen pictured with his young colleague Katarzyna Herdzik holding the dagger.

Ukowski said: 'This is my most valuable discovery. Accidental. The cliff was torn off; the block must have fallen from above. I entered this place with a metal detector because it started to ring there.'

The weapon is approximately 2,800 years old, and features elaborate decorations along its 24.2-centimeter (9.52-inch) handle and blade.

It has been donated to the Museum of the History of the Kamien Region, with Grzegorz Kurka, the museum's director, saying: 'A true work of art! In terms of workmanship, it is of very high quality, beautifully ornamented. Each engraved element is different.'

'As for finds in Poland, I have not come across such a dagger.'

He revealed that the dagger was discovered on the western part of the Polish coast but declined to disclose the exact location.

Kurka said that the blade was 'covered with linear crescents and crosses resembling stars'.

He said: 'In the middle of the blade runs a decoration perhaps symbolising constellations, and the whole [piece] is complemented by diagonal lines.'

The historian suggested that the decorations indicated potential links with a sun-worshipping people and that it was probably a ritual tool. He also speculated that it may have belonged to a wealthy warrior.

Kurka added: 'The discovery of this dagger is also a testimony to the extraordinary history of the region and Western Pomerania over thousands of years.'