Hiker finds 6th c. gold sword fitting

A hiker enjoying his morning constitutional in Sandnes, Norway, discovered a rare 6th century gold sword scabbard fitting. One of only 18 similar examples found in Northern Europe, the intricately decorated artifact is so rare, the sword it was mounted on had to have belonged to a member of the regional elite, likely a local chieftain, during the Migration Period.

The hiker found the fitting at the base of a hill named Riaren where a tree that had fallen years earlier caught his eye. He poked at a mound under the roots with a stick and suddenly saw the glint of gold. It was a small rectangle, 6 cm long by 2 cm wide (2.4 x .8 inches), weighing an unexpectedly heavy 33 grams (1.2 oz).

The ornamentation consists of a stylized animal motif created in looped and knotted gold ribbons with finely beaded gold threads overlaid on some of the lines. This filigree required a high degree of skill and is rare in works from the period. While the surface is very worn, it’s possible to make out two animals face each other in profile, one with the head against the bottom edge, the other with the head against the top edge. Additional animal figures can be made out on the back of a bent part of the fitting. These ribbon-shaped zoomorphic designs date the piece to the first half of the 6th century.

This is the third elite artifact found in the marshes at the base of Riaren. A silver necklace with gold decorations was unearthed during ploughing in the 19th century, and a large Roman bronze cauldron manufactured on the Rhine around 300 A.D. was found on a farm in 1907. All three are believed to have been deliberately deposited as offerings to the gods in hard times.

[Archaeologist Håkon Reiersen] at the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger believes that the gold treasure was buried in a rock crevice for religious reasons. It may have been an offering to the gods sometime in the 6th century.

In the year 536, Norway and the Nordic countries may have been hit by a disaster after a major volcanic eruption in Central America. The result may also have been a severe cooling for several years. Several sources in Europe describe the event. In the northern hemisphere, temperatures probably dropped by several degrees. Summers became short and cold. Crops failed for several years in a row. Perhaps half the people here died.

A lot of gold was offered to the gods at this time. People probably left valuable objects as offerings in the hope of better times. “By sacrificing such magnificent objects to the gods, the leaders at Hove confirmed their status and power,” says Reiersen.

The area around Hove in Rogaland was a center of the new warrior elite who conquered the ancient tribal communities of the region during the Roman Iron Age and early Migration Period. The warriors were seasoned serving as auxilia (mercenaries) in the Roman legions starting in the 2nd century A.D., and some of them moved north after they were discharged, using the unit organization they had learned under Rome and their military might to overpower the Scandinavian tribes and claim their fertile agricultural land.

They would seize existing farms, with the leader taking the largest, most central one and his men taking other ones nearby. They built new structures modeled after the layout of Roman military camps and forced the tribes to work the land for them, and to generate saleable goods like iron implements, fur and whale oil. This was a key period of transition from the early model of tribal communities to local chieftains and then to kingdoms.

The scabbard fitting is being cleaned and conservators by experts at the Archaeological Museum of the University of Stavanger. When the work is complete, the artifact will be exhibited to the public in the museum.

* This article was originally published here