Category: Sword

Sword and socketed axe B5469/a-b

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Three fragments of a riveted sword. There are six rivet holes; the bottom two holes are almost gone as the shaft plate is damaged around the edge. There is a marked midrib, and the blade widens before tapering and converging towards the tip, which is missing. The fragments are heavily corroded, although some patches of green patina remain. The sword is a Sögel type. Current length: 28.6 cm (B05469/a)

Complete palstave with long and slender blade and decoration, a so-called weapon palstave. The ax is heavily corroded. However, faint remains of decoration can be seen on the side facets and blade. There are parallel horizontal lines and oblique lines (possibly hatched triangles) on the sides of the neck. The transition to the blade is marked with parallel horizontal lines and a rib, and on the blade there is a triangle or Y shape consisting of double lines. The sides of the blade are marked with ribs. Both neck and edge are damaged. Length: c. 17 cm. Width: 3.8 cm above the edge. B05469/b)

Location:
Vanse, Farsund, Vest-Agder

Context:
No information about the find.

Dating:
Early Bronze Age period 1-2

Sword B4570

Foto: Ann Mari Olsen © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sword with tang and with narrow blade, short tang and marked shoulders. There is a marked midrib. The tip is missing, and the blade is broken in two. The tang and shaft plate are corroded. Current length: 32.6 cm

Location:
Lista lighthouse, Farsund, Vest-Agder

Context:
Found in the ground near Lista lighthouse, no other information.

Dating:
Younger Bronze Age period 5

Miniature sword B9886

Miniature sword, with hilt and pommel, cast in one piece. The blade is straight and a central rib runs the length of the sword from the pommel to the tip. The pommel is flat and oval. Brown patina, otherwise the sword is complete and undamaged. Length: c. 9.9 cm Width: 0.5 cm Photo: Ann Mari Olsen © University Museum in Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location:
Lavik (gnr. 73/1), Høyanger, Sogn & Fjordane

Context:
Found in a field, between the barn and an outbuilding. No other information.

Dating:
Parallels to this sword are hard to find. Miniature objects appear to be a Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age phenomenon, so a more precise date cannot be given.

Fibula, knife, sword and bone B5765/a-c

Fibula with an hourglass-like shape on the head and spiral ends. Most of the needle is missing; the loop is broken at one end. The fibula is heavily corroded. Length: 9.5 cm. B5765/a.

Small frame-handled knife with an oval, flat end. The tip is missing. The blade is asymmetrical. The knife is green and corroded. Length: 9 cm. B5765/b.

Flange-hilted sword. The blade has a marked, round central rib. The sides are damaged and the tip is broken. The shaft is broken, one fragment is preserved. There are two rivets on the top of the blade, and four rivets on the shaft. The wear on the blade indicates that the shaft was crescent-shaped. The sword is heavily corroded. Length: c. 30 cm. B5765/c.

A collection of bones (no museum number).

Photo: Svein Skare

Location:
Storasund, Karmøy, Rogaland

Context:
Found in a mound in 1902. The burial was documented by an amateur archaeologist while the landowner removed the mound, which measured 20 x 2.5 m. A stone coffin was found at the bottom of the mound; it measured 1.9 x 0.45 m and was 0.46-0.47 m deep, built of four large slabs and covered by two slabs. The bottom was covered with stones with a layer of beach sand and moss on top. Inside were unburnt bones, a fibula (B5765/a) and a knife (B5765/b). The fibula was found in the center of the grave, one end in the sand, while the knife was found in the southern end. A sword (B5765/c) was found in the fill about 0.5 m from the top of the mound. An iron sickle and burnt bones were reportedly found in this mound.

Date:
Early Bronze Age period 3

Sword B5046

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Four fragments of a tanged sword with sword knob. The blade has a rounded midrib, with a raised rib on each side that is concave at the top of the blade. The pliers consist of eight bronze discs. The handle is rounded towards the blade in a crescent shape that has relief decoration, and the outer edge of the crescent has slanted lines. The shaft has five rivets. The sword button is oval with a round central pin surrounded by eight rings in relief. The tip of the blade is missing. Length: 43 cm

Location:
Bø, Karmøy, Rogaland.

Context:
Found in «Knaghaug» in 1893; the mound was partially destroyed and the sword was found under a slab near the top of the remaining mound. Shetelig excavated the remaining pile in 1907, and found stones and charcoal, probably a broken stone coffin. At the bottom he found a boat-shaped stone setting, 3 x 2 m. It consisted of round beach stones on a layer of boulders. At the eastern end there was a standing slab on a slab layer on top of a layer of yellow sand. There was a layer of stones under the sand, sitting on the ground.

Date:
Early Bronze Age period 3.

Sword (fragment) B4152

Photo: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Fragment of the upper part of a sword blade. It has a marked central rib and no decoration. The blade is broken where the blade expands and the shaft plate starts, so it is impossible to determine whether the blade was riveted or tanged. The sides are parallel. There is some corrosion. Length: c.12 cm.

Location:
Madla, Stavanger, Rogaland

Context:
Found in a mound in the 1830s at Madla farm. The chamber was about 2.5 m long and contained the sword and other unspecified bronze objects. The sword blade was complete when it was found, the other objects were not kept or handed in to the museum and are lost.

Date:
As the fragment was found in a large chamber, this suggests a dating to the Early Bronze Age period 2-3.

Sword shaft B2558

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Hilt and pommel of a sword, or possibly the haft of a composite axe. The pommel is round and flat, with a cross in relief in the centre. The hilt has a pattern of triangles and zigzags in relief, and ends in a flat, square tang with three small rivet holes. Length: 8.1 cm

Location:
Tu, Klepp, Rogaland

Context:
Found in a small mound in 1870. No other information is available.

Date:
The decoration indicates an early Bronze Age dating period 3.

Sword B1011

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Five fragments of a tanged sword. Most of the tang and tip are missing. A semi-circular curve on the blade indicates the shape of the shaft. The blade appears to have been wider in the middle; there is a rounded central rib flanked by a line on either side. The midrib ends near the point and the lines converge and continue to the point. The sword is severely damaged: it has been burned and is corroded. The sides of the blade are broken and chipped. Length: 58.8 cm

Location:
Sola, Sola, Rogaland

Context:
Found in a grave at Sola in 1834, together with a button and other bronzes, which were not submitted to the museum.

Date:
Early Bronze Age period 3.

Sword B1010

Photo: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Tanged sword with two rivet holes. The blade widens and tapers towards the point, and has a marked midrib. There are some notches along the blade. The sword is heavily corroded. Length: 54 cm

Location:
Friestad, Klepp, Rogaland

Context:
Found in a mound. No other information available.

Date:
Early Bronze Age period 3.

Sword B1009

Photo: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Complete riveted sword with pommel. The hilt is missing. The haft plate is triangular. A semi-circular curve on the blade indicates the shape of the hilt. There are three rivet holes; there is still a rivet in the top, central hole, while there are broken rivets in the remaining holes. The blade widens and tapers towards the point, the tip of which is missing. There is a rounded midrib flanked by two parallel lines on both sides; the lines start at the side of the haft plate and are concave before running down the blade. Some notches along the blade, otherwise it is well preserved. The sword is green and corroded; part of the midrib has been polished in modern times. The pommel is small and oval, 2.4 x 3 cm. It has a small boss in the centre, surrounded by eight small rings in relief (which might have been inlaid with organic material) and four short lines along the edge. The socket is damaged and has a triangular border. There is some corrosion. Length: 59.7 cm

Context:
Found in a grave. The chamber was rectangular and was dry-walled, with slabs at both ends. NB: There is some confusion in the catalogue as it would seem that B01009 and B01011 may have been mixed up. Accordingly, this sword (B01009) is supposed to have come from a burial at Sola, while B01011 is from Skeie. The information about the find from Skeie is that it was found in a dry-walled rectangular chamber, while the find from Sola was found in a grave with a button and other bronzes in 1834.

Location:
Skeie, Vindafjord, Rogaland

Date:
Early Bronze Age period 3

Sverd B1007

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sword. Complete octagon-hilted sword. The hilt is attached to the blade with two rivets. The pommel and hilt are cast in one piece. The blade has an oval cross-section and tapers towards the point, which curls up on one side. The pommel is oval and has an oval boss in the centre. There are faint traces of decoration, probably lines and rings. There are three horizontal, parallel lines at the transition between the pommel and hilt, and the hilt also has faint traces of S-shaped decoration. Golden-brown, corroded in places. Length: c. 62 cm.

Context:
No information available

Location:
Madla, Stavanger, Rogaland

Date:
Early Bronze Age period 2

Sword B11599

Incomplete sword with socketed hilt,. The lower part of the blade is missing; the remaining blade was broken in two and is glued together. There is a small fragment of the lower part of the blade, near the point. There is some damage to the edges of the blade, and the hilt is severely corroded. The blade is ogival with midrib; the shoulders are convex and semi-circular. The hilt consists of an oval hollow-cast tube and narrow plate attached to the blade with two rivets. Between the rivets there are four fake rivets. There is a rivet inside the socket. The socket and blade are decorated: the socket has three sets of horizontal lines and a faint outline of triangles below the mouth of the socket and between the line bundles. The blade has three striated triangles below the two central fake rivets, and four line bundles run from the shoulders and down the blade. The outer line bundles consist of six lines and flank first the inner line bundles and then the midrib, finally converging at the section where the blade is broken. The inner line bundles consist of four lines and flank the midrib and converge about 13 cm down the blade. Hadju-sámson type. Parallels: a sword from Roum, Jutland and the sword from Nebra (Engedal 2010). Length: 36.9 cm. Width: 8.9 cm across shoulders.

Context:
Found during road construction. The finder had dug a ditch and noticed a branch-like object jutting out from the side of the ditch. It broke when he hit it with the spade, and he noticed that the fracture was golden. He subsequently pulled out the object and realised that it was a sword. The spot was covered up, including fragments of the sword. Later, the area was further disturbed by road building. The exact position is not known, but according to reports at the time it might have been next to a rock, or on a ledge in the rock, on a steep rocky slope. The area was excavated in 1969, without any finds. The missing fragments of the sword were not found. Two flanged axes have been found on the farm, B12125 and B13373.

Location:
Blindheim (gnr. 17/1), Ålesund, Møre & Romsdal

Date:
Swords of this type are rare, only four parallels are known, and they are dated to the Early Bronze Age period 1. The sword can thus be dated to period 1.

 

Sword B11333

Tanged sword with rounded midrib, broken in two below the shoulders; the fragments are glued together. The tang is relatively short, the shoulders are sharp, and the blade is straight, but tapers slightly towards the tip, which is missing. This is a recent injury as the fracture is not patinated. There is some damage to the blade: the blade is bent and uneven around the break, which may be post-closure, although there is a large notch on the edge near the break, which was deposited before closure. There are also marks further down the blade, and a corresponding notch on the edge. The patina is mainly a reddish brown and green; there is some corrosion. Length: 66.6 cm. Width: 4 cm at the shoulders, 2 cm near the tip. Photo: Svein Skare

Context:
Found under a large rock on a rocky, gravelly slope or escarpment on Ulsteinhetta, near the southern edge of a ridge known as Ormehalsen. The location is approximately 50 m above a flat area. It was discovered when a smaller stone was removed.

Location:
Stadsnes (gnr. 5/14), Ulstein, Møre & Romsdal

Date:
The outline and the short tang indicate dating to a Younger Bronze Age period 5 (Baudou 1960).

 

Sword B4954

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Riveted sword blade, broken at the handle. One nail hole is visible. The blade is golden and green, some brown spots; there are indications of modern sharpening and the patina is partially gone. One side has some irregularities, probably a casting error. The blade is wider in the middle and the edges taper towards the tip, which is partially broken. The central rib is flanked by three lines on each side. The blade is generally in good condition. Parallels: Montelius Minnen 901, 903 Length: 62.5 cm. Width: 3.1 cm across the middle part. Weight: 519 g.

Context:
The blade was found in a ditch in a peat bog, approx. 1893. The bog is located approx. 75 m W of the farmhouse, 35 m.a.s.l.

Location:
Sørvoll (no. 97/2), Bømlo, Hordaland

Date:
Blades like this are dated to the Early Bronze Age period 2-3. The sword is similar to Montelius Minnen 901, 903 and should probably be dated to Early Bronze Age period 2.

Sword B1825

Tanged sword with guard and pommel, originally with organic hilt. The blade was broken and the fracture has been glued. Both the point and the tang are broken. There is a guard between the hilt and the blade, consisting of a crescent-shaped rib ending in three tongues on either side. The pommel is trapezoid and decorated with rings and grooves in relief; it might have been inlaid with organic material. Dark green, almost black patina, with red and golden patches. Length: 46 cm. Width: 3.4 cm across blade. Weight: 439 g, pommel weighs 33 g.

Photo: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Context:
The sword is reported to have come from a cairn near Fitjar Church, most likely the Rimsvarden cairn. This is a huge cairn with a diameter of 25 m and a height between 2 and 4 m, located on an outcrop 90 m.a.s.l. There are several craters in the cairn, which was opened by a local tavern owner (probably Bengt Magnussen (1743-1810)) ca. 1785. A cist was found near the bottom of the cairn; the cist was drywalled and covered by a large stone slab, measuring 1.9 x 0.6 m. A sword, dagger, and charcoal were found inside. There is no information as to what happened to the dagger.

Local tradition:
The sword found in Rimsvarden was used to cure illness and ease childbirth. If a patient was stroked with the blade, all would be well, while things would not go well if the patient was stroked with the point. The sword is likely to be B01825, which was handed in to the museum in 1866 with the information that it was found in a cairn near Fitjar church; however, the museum catalogue states that it came from a farm at Stord. According to Per Fett (1973), the tavern owner’s daughter was married to a man from this particular farm, and she was a midwife, so that it is likely that B01825 is in fact the sword found in Rimsvarden.

Location:
Rimbareid (gnr. 62/3,4,7, gnr. 63/7), Fitjar, Hordaland

Date:
Swords of this type are dated to the Early Bronze Age period 3.

Sword B1008

 

Foto: Svein Skare © Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sword B1008. Tongue-hilted sword, undamaged and in good condition. The shaft ends in a small tange, and there is a rivet hole on the shaft. Both sides of the shaft show signs of hammering. There are two rivets on the broad shoulder, below which is a marked indentation on each side of the blade. Two parallel sets of three lines run from the shoulder along the midrib almost to the tip of the point. Dark green patina, there are some golden spots especially on the center rib. It is an imported sword of the Mindelheim type (Jensen 1997), originating in Central Europe. Length: 80 cm

Context:
Found on a seder farm, Seberg, used for grazing by several farms, 450 m.a.s.l. The sword was stuck in a crack in an outcrop (although some sources say it was found between rocks). There is an outcrop with a large cup mark close by, as well as other cup mark places on the path that leads to a seat farm further up the mountain.

Location:
On the seat farm Seberg under Lekve (gnr. 49, 50), Ulvik, Hordaland

Dating:
Swords of this type are dated to the Younger Bronze Age, period 6.