Archaeology
Rare Viking sword found in Sudal
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sword2-4UJhoj.jpeg)
A farmer in Studal, Norway, has stumbled across a rare Viking sword while preparing his field for sowing new grass.
The sword was found by Øyvind Tveitane Lovr, who initially mistook the object for a piece of rusty farm equipment and nearly discarded it.
Upon closer examination, he realised that it was actually the hilt of a sword and reported the find to local authorities at the Rogaland County Council.
Under Norwegian law, all finds that fall under the Cultural Heritage Act section 12 and section 14 are the property of the state and must be declared.
The surviving elements of the sword measures 37 cm in length, with around half the length of the blade now missing.
Image Credit : University of Stavanger
An X-ray of the sword by archaeologists from the Archaeological Museum of the University of Stavanger has revealed the outline of inscriptions with a cross pattern, and possibly letters along the length of the surviving blade.
“This means that it could be a so-called VLFBERHT sword from the Viking Age or the early Middle Ages. These are high-quality swords produced in the Frankish Empire (now Germany) which are marked with the weapon manufacturer’s name,” said Sigmund Oehrl, from the University of Stavanger.
Out of the thousands of Viking swords discovered throughout Europe, only 170 have been found to have these inscriptions, with only 45 examples found in Norway.
Professor Oehrl suggests that the Studal sword was likely brought by Vikings who sailed into the Lovrafjord and dates from between AD 900 to 1050.
Archaeologists explored the find site but have found no further traces of the missing sword elements or associated objects.
Header Image Credit : Rogaland County Municipality
Sources : Rogaland County Municipality
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeology
Ornate grave goods found in Murom burial ground
Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been excavating a burial ground associated with the Finnic Muromians.
The Finnic Muromians were groups of settlers that lived within the vicinity of the Volga and Oka rivers. They spoke Muromian, an Uralic language that became extinct following their assimilation by the Slavs.
The burial ground, which dates from the early 10th century AD, was discovered on the eastern bank of the Oka river, located in the Nizhny Novgorod Region of Russia.
A total of seventeen burial pits have been identified, nine of which have been severely damaged through looting.
The surviving 8 burials contain the remains of four children, two women, and two men.
The men were accompanied with an ornate collection of grave goods, including arrowheads, knives, bronze bracelets, iron plates, a bronze buckle, and a whetstone.
At the bottom of one of the pits is a heavily corroded axe, along with a flint that has traces of iron-coated embossed leather and textile threads.
The burials containing women were also accompanied with high status funerary goods, such as a necklace of red-brown prismatic and dark blue berry-shaped beads of Byzantine origin, signet ring-shaped pendants, plate bracelets, a bronze spiral, and a silver ring.
Traces of wood within the pit fillings suggest that they originally contained a wooden structure, similar to a log house made of thin beams and covered with birch bark.
According to the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “The culmination of the discoveries at the site were two clay vessels, testifying to direct and close contacts between the right-bank Muromians and the Old Russian population.”
Header Image Credit : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sources : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeology
Ghastly finds at gallows execution site
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/gast2-S78Iej.jpeg)
Archaeologists from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt are currently excavating the site of a former gallows in Quedlinburg, Germany.
Gallows are usually wooden structures made of two vertical posts, a horizontal crossbeam, and a hanging noose. They have been used for executing criminals by hanging, a prevalent form of capital punishment in Europe since the Middle Ages.
Archaeologists are currently excavating a gallows site on Galgenberg, or ‘Gallows Hill,’ which was used for public executions by the courts in Quedlinburg from 1662 to 1809.
Excavations have revealed complete and partial burials in the area, along with bone pits containing multiple bundled burials, likely the result of mass executions carried out in a short period.
Image Credit : LDA
According to the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, “these discoveries provide unique insights into penal practices from the Middle Ages and early modern times.”
A burial unrelated to the gallows has also been unearthed, featuring a wooden coffin containing the skeletal remains of an individual buried with a rosary chain.
Archaeologists propose that the burial’s characteristics suggest that the individual was likely a suicide victim, denied burial in consecrated ground so was placed in the cemetery near the gallows.
Also discovered is a so-called ‘revenant grave’, where the skeletal remains of a man was found placed on his back with several large stones placed across his chest.
According to the researchers, the stones were likely placed to prevent the individual from rising as a revenant, which are described as animated corpses in the verbal traditions and lore of many European ethnic groups.
In medieval times, those inflicted with the revenant condition were generally suicide victims, witches, corpses possessed by a malevolent spirit, or the victim of a vampiric attack.
Header Image Credit : LDA
Sources : State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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