Viking Age Sword Discovered on School Trip in Norway
A six-year-old boy on a school trip in Norway has uncovered a sword believed to date back more than 1,300 years.
Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt found the weapon while out with classmates in Gran, eastern Norway. He noticed a rusty piece of metal protruding from the ground and picked it up, thinking it was an old tool or scrap iron.
Instead, it turned out to be an ancient sword.
Teachers contacted local archaeologists after seeing the object.
Experts later identified it as a single-edged iron sword from the late Merovingian Period or the early Viking Age.
The Merovingian Period lasted from around AD 550 to 800, before the better-known Viking swords with double-edged blades became widespread across Scandinavia.
Despite centuries underground, the sword has survived in good condition. The blade is heavily rusted, but its shape remains clear. Parts of the hilt are still hidden beneath layers of corrosion and soil.
Archaeologists said the pommel and guard resemble a “Type F” sword identified by Norwegian scholar Jan Petersen in his 1919 study De Norske Vikingesverd (“The Norwegian Viking Swords”). His classification system is still used today when identifying Viking and early medieval weapons.
Type F swords are normally dated to the first half of the ninth century.
Researchers believe the find could offer more information about the period between the Merovingian era and the rise of Viking culture in northern Europe. Single-edged swords from this time are less common than later Viking weapons, which makes discoveries like this important for archaeologists.
The sword has now been taken to the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. Conservators will clean and preserve the weapon before carrying out X-rays and metallurgical testing.
The analysis may reveal how the sword was made, how old it is and whether it saw combat or ceremonial use.
Norway regularly produces archaeological discoveries because erosion and farming often expose buried objects. Even so, experts say it is rare for a child to uncover a weapon of this age during an ordinary school outing.
Henrik has since appeared in Norwegian media, where he has already been jokingly described as a future archaeologist. Video from a local interview shows the young boy proudly holding the corroded weapon that had remained hidden beneath the soil for more than a millennium.
By Mark Milligan.
