Archeologists find Viking sword

Archeologists find Viking sword in southern Turkey

Searching through the ancient city of Patara in Turkey's Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Turkish archeologists uncovered a sword dating back to over a millennium.

Lead excavator Professor Havva Iskan Işık of Akdeniz University told Anadolu Agency that they identified a Viking sword from the ninth or 10th century.

Işık said they have been carrying out excavation works for 30 years and have discovered important archaeological evidence so far.

"Finding a Viking sword in a harbor city in the Mediterranean area is of great importance," she said.

She said the sword offers a clue to how the Vikings served the Eastern Roman Empire, adding that the preserved total length of the sword is 43.2 centimeters (around 17 inches).

The sword was inside a wooden sheath, Isik said, and could have been left in the grave of a Viking soldier.

According to research, Viking swords in wooden sheaths were left in tombs as a "gift to dead", she said.

Swedish girl pulls Viking era sword from lake

Photo: Jönköpings läns museum

An eight-year-old Swedish girl came across an exciting find swimming at her local lake, when she pulled an ancient sword from its depths.

"It's not every day that one steps on a sword in the lake!" Mikael Nordström from Jönköpings Läns Museum told The Local when explaining the significance of the find.
But that's exactly what happened to Saga Vanecek, who found the Viking Age relic at the Vidöstern lake in Småland earlier this summer.
"I felt something in the water and lifted it up. It was a handle, and I told my dad that it looked like a sword!" Saga told Sveriges Radio, recalling the moment. "It was pretty cool and a bit exciting."
The sword is estimated to be at least 1,000 years old and has prompted huge interest from archaeologists and historians.
"It's about 85 centimentres long, and there is also preserved wood and metal around it," explained Nordström. "We are very keen to see the conservation staff do their work and see more of the details of the sword."
"Why it has come to be there, we don't know," he said. "When we searched a couple of weeks ago, we found another prehistoric object; a brooch from around the same period as the sword, so that means – we don't know yet – but perhaps it's a place of sacrifice. At first we thought it could be graves situated nearby the lake, but we don't think that any more."
The sword has prompted teams including museum staff to carry out further searches in the area, though none have resulted in such an important find. The first led to the discovery of the brooch but the oldest object found in the second search, on Wednesday, was a coin from the 18th century, "and a lot of quite recent trash, to be frank", Nordström said.
"We asked Saga [not to tell anyone about the sword] because we were afraid that if this find would go public too soon, there would be a lot of people there, perhaps destroying our possibility to find things later," he added. "So she has finally been able to tell her story after waiting for a couple of months."
Anyone hoping to see the sword in the museum will have to wait at least a year, according to Nordström, who said: "The conservation process takes quite a long time because it's a complicated environment with wood and leather, so they have several steps to make sure it's preserved for the future."
As for whether Saga will be involved in future projects or receive a reward for her discovery, the case has now been handed over to the National Archives of Sweden, who will be responsible for making the decision.

Runstensfynd i Eskilstuna

FOTO: FREDRIK SANDBERG/TT

En helt annan runsten. Arkivbild.

Hade det inte varit för en förbipasserande cyklist hade en tusenårig runsten förvandlats till krossat fyllnadsmaterial i Eskilstuna.

Den jättelika stenen upptäcktes redan för drygt en vecka sedan under ett arbete med att schakta för den blivande gång- och cykelbanan mellan Skiftinge och Sundbyholm. Då var den mest i vägen – ingen upptäckte runskriften på det tre meter långa och en meter breda blocket.

Häromdagen skulle man så ta beslut om hur stenen skulle krossas på bästa sätt, men då kom en cyklist förbi som genast såg att det inte rörde sig om någon vanlig stenklump utan snarare årets fynd.

Stenen har nu uppgraderats från problem till kulturarv och visade sig finnas med i en arkeologisk förteckning över kända men försvunna runstenar och minnesmärken. På stenen finns texten "Ingulv och Visäte reste denna sten efter Bugge och Sigsten. Gud hjälpe deras själ" inristat.

Fyndplatsen har nu spärrats av i avvaktan på besked om en större utgrävning ska göras.

Mass Grave in England

Mass Grave in England May Hold a ‘Lost’ Viking Army

BY BECKY LITTLE

Photograph of the juvenile grave. (Credit: Martin Biddle/University of Bristol)

In the mid-ninth century, a Viking military force known as the Great Heathen Army invaded England. It marked the transition among Vikings from raiding cities to conquering them, and is considered an important historical event in the creation of England. Yet for decades, no one could find any archaeological evidence to back this up.

Now, a group of researchers at the University of Bristol in England think they might have found that evidence—i.e., the soldiers’ bones.

However, initial carbon dating placed the skeletons in earlier centuries, leading researchers to conclude that they couldn’t be Viking soldiers. It was only after adjusting for Vikings’ seafood diet that researchers were able to correctly carbon date them to the 9th century.

The bones come from a mass grave of at least 264 skeletons at St. Wystan’s church in Repton, Derbyshire, that archaeologists first excavated in the 1970s and ‘80s. Historical records tell us the Viking army spent the winter in Repton in 873 A.D., so many thought carbon dating would show the bones came from that time period.

“When we eat fish or other marine foods, we incorporate carbon into our bones that is much older than in terrestrial foods,” said lead archaeologist Cat Jarman, according to a University of Bristol press release. “This confuses radiocarbon dates from archaeological bone material and we need to correct for it by estimating how much seafood each individual ate.”

Other clues support the theory that these are remnants of the Viking army. Many of these skeletons showed signs of violent injury. And near these remains, researchers also discovered an axe and several knives that dated to 872-875 A.D. About 20 percent of these skeletons were female, a fact that had previously raised doubts that this was a grave for Viking soldiers. But since their discovery, DNA evidence has proven that not all Viking soldiers were male.

A double grave discovered. (Credit: Martin Biddle/University of Bristol)

The Great Heathen Army gets its name from the English Christians whose land the Vikings began invading around 865 A.D. Also known as the Great Viking Army, this military force defeated Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and established a Viking state, before losing to King Alfred when it tried to take his kingdom of Wessex. After this defeat, Alfred captured English territories that the Vikings had taken—such as London—thereby expanding his own rule.

“This was a key part in the story of how England was made,” Jarman told the BBC. “But because of the lack of physical evidence, it has not been given the attention it deserves.”

Now that this staggering mass grave from the Viking era has been made public, that may change.