An unusually well-preserved Viking sword dating to around 750 AD was recently found by a hiker in the mountains of the Haukeli region of southern Norway, Hordaland county officials announced last week.
The wrought-iron weapon, around 80cm in length, would have belonged to a high-ranking individual. “At this time, all the swords were very valuable,” the local archaeologist Jostein Aksdal explained to the AFP. “Most Vikings had to get by with a simple knife or an axe.”
How and why the sword was at this location is unclear; one theory is that it was part of a burial. The artefact has been sent to the University Museum of Bergen to be studied and conserved, and further excavation at the site is planned for the spring, after the snow melts.
The temperature in the region is below freezing at least half of the year, Askdal told the AFP. He noted that climate change could, in fact, aid archaeologists: “Melting snows will probably cause more and more ancient objects to resurface.”