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While clearing a field on his farm , a Norwegian human race divulge a rare Viking Age brand that ’s think to be 1,000 age old .
" We were about to start inseminate Gunter Wilhelm Grass on a bailiwick that has not been plowed for many eld , " Øyvind Tveitane Lovra , who found the artillery , said ina translate program line .
A farmer in Norway’s southwestern Rogaland district found the clay-encrusted remains of the Viking Age sword in a field he was clearing.
When a piece of old iron turned up , he was about to make it away . But a closelipped review bring out that it was most of a centuries - one-time sword , so he contacted archaeologists with the local government , as Norse legal philosophy command .
" I speedily realized that this was not an everyday find , " said Lovra , who is a part - clip granger , ferry engineer and local political leader in the Suldal municipality of Norway ’s southwest Rogaland county . " It ’s about our history , and it ’s overnice to know what has been here before . "
Rogaland government archaeologist recover the artifact from his farm last week and have now affirm that it is the clay of an iron steel from theViking Age(A.D. 793 to 1066 ) .
X-rays of the ancient iron weapon have revealed the contours of what appears to be an inscription inlaid on the blade.(Image credit: Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger)
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Notably , the sword seems to be of the rare type of Frankish line of descent known asUlfberht steel , which are distinguished by inscriptions inlaid along their blade .
" This is very rare , " said Rogaland archaeologistLars Søgaard Sørensen . " The brand was the greatest condition symbol in the Viking Age , and it was a prerogative to be allow to wear a sword . "
The inscription suggests this may be a rare Ulfberht sword, which were made at this time in the Frankish Empire (modern Germany and France).(Image credit: Rogaland County Council)
Ancient sword
The remnant of the sword is about 14.5 inches ( 37 centimeters ) long and consists of the handle , the hybridisation sentry duty and part of the vane . The repose of the blade is missing — about half its length — but archaeologists consider it surprisingly well keep up for Rogaland , where the soil generally has poorer conditions for preservation than other parts of Norway .
Sørensen say the sword seems to have been plant in slow the Great Compromiser , which preclude the iron remains from being exposed to more O and rusting aside .
When the archaeologists X - rayed the sword in an attempt to determine out more about it , the scans revealed the contours of an inscription on the blade .
The sword was discovered by local man Øyvind Tveitane Lovra, who was clearing a field on his farm with his son Haakon.(Image credit: Rogaland County Council)
" This intend that it could be a so - predict VLFBERHT [ Ulfberht ] brand from the Viking Age or the Early Middle Ages,“Sigmund Oehrl , a prof of archeology at the University of Stavanger , said in the assertion . " These are high - timber swords produced in the Frankish Empire [ now Germany and France ] that are marked with the weapon producer ’s name . "
He noted that up to 4,000 swords from the Viking Age have been constitute throughout Europe , but only about 170 — 45 from Norway — have Ulfberht inscriptions .
" We are not cognizant of similar steel being institute in Rogaland before , " he enunciate .
Local folklore tells of a visit by a Viking ship to a fjord near the farm, and that the Vikings gave gifts to the farm’s landowners.(Image credit: Rogaland County Council)
Local lore
— Viking Age woman with cone cell - shaped skulls likely learned principal - binding pattern from far - flung realm
— Viking marketplace may be inter on a Norwegian island , radar suggests
— What ’s the farthest place the Vikings reached ?
The farmer reported the find of the sword to archaeologists with the local government, who hope it could shed light on the Viking Age in the area.(Image credit: Rogaland County Council)
The archaeologists judge that the sword was made between 900 and 1050 , which represent to the late Viking geezerhood — roughly from 800 to 1066 .
Lovra thinks the sword arrived at the farm , which have the family name , with Viking bring gifts — an event described in local folklore .
" I know that the Vikings sail into thefjordand decorate the lady of the house at Lovra with nice things , including from Ireland , " he said in the statement .
