First-grader on field trip finds 1,300-year-old sword

A first grader out on a field trip with his class discovered a medieval sword in Gran, Norway. Six-year-old Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt saw a rusty piece of metal sticking out of the ground and with the eternal wisdom of his six years, he picked it up to see what it was, thinking it was an old piece of scrap or broken tool. It was a sword.

The teachers contacted the county archaeologists to report the find. They examined the sword and determined it is a single-edged sword, a type of weapon typically produced in Scandinavia during the Merovingian Period (550-800 A.D.). Archaeologists believe it’s from late in the period, or early in Viking Age before they began producing the double-edged blade commonly seen in Viking-era  weapons.

The iron has certainly corroded over the centuries, but despite the rust, the sword is in overall excellent condition. Even though the hilt has a thick outer layer of corrosion materials and soil, the shape of the pommel and guard resembles the design of Jan Petersen’s type F sword from his 1919 De Norske Vikingesverd (“The Norwegian Viking Swords”), still the standard text on Viking sword typology. Type F swords date to the first half of the 9th century, 

It has now been transferred to the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo where it will be conserved, X-rayed and subjected to metallurgical analysis to find out more about its construction, age and use.

This interview with future archaeologist Henrik Mørtvedt is in Norwegian and I can’t understand a word of it, but it’s just too cute not to post, and there are great shots of the sword.

* This article was originally published here