Archaeologists in Sweden have unearthed two Viking swords in nearby graves that were buried, as if they were on their tips.
Whoever installed the iron swords perpendicular to the surface about 1200 years ago obviously did so on purpose, as it would have taken a lot of effort (probably with a stone or hammer) to fit the weapons about 40 centimeters (16 inches) into the ground, archaeologists told WordsSideKick. com.
“The location of the swords reflects an action with a lot of symbolism,” Anton Seiler (opens in a new tab), Fredrik Larsson (opens in a new tab) and Katarina Appelgren (opens in a new tab), archaeologists from Arkeologerna, an archaeology society in Sweden, which is part of the government-run National Historical Museums, Live Science said in an email. “When you find swords in the graves, which you don’t do much, they rest next to the buried person, like a faithful couple on an adventure to the afterlife. “
It’s unclear why those two swords were buried, but there are several possibilities, one of which is that the state swords served as a link to the Norse warrior god Odin and his domain Valhalla, where the slain warriors are believed to reside under Odin’s leadership, said the Arkeologerna team that helped notice the sword.
Related: 10 Awesome Swords and Other Ancient Weapons Discovered in 2021
Archaeologists, who were excavating ahead of a road structure project, discovered the two sword burials in early autumn in Västmanland county in central Sweden. The team discovered a giant burial box covering a domain of just under one acre (60 to 60 meters) and containing at least one hundred cremated burials. At the time of its use, the burial box bordered two farms, archaeologists said.
Most of the burials date to the last Iron Age (600 to 1000 AD) and were made with stones that formed tombs up to 23 feet (7 m) in diameter. The two sword burials each measure about 16 feet (5 m) in diameter and date to the ninth or tenth century A. D. , Viking Age. However, those two tombs, along with a third burial containing glass beads, were placed over an earlier burial mound dating to the seventh or eighth century A. D. , meaning that each of those Americans was part of a funerary monument,” the team said.
It’s very rare to incorporate old tombs into new ones in the last Iron Age, Seiler, Larsson and Appelgren said. “This shows that the structure of the two stone decorations with swords was done deliberately, perhaps to create a bond with a safe individual, ancestor or social group. “
Viking-age swords were expensive items, so burying those weapons in graves was a “huge investment” as it made them “unavailable for long-term use,” the team added. Both swords are about 35 inches (90 cm) long and broken. “They broke when they were buried, and more than 1,000 years also contributed to degradation,” the team explained.
Archaeologists plan to combine the fragments “to determine the precise duration and shape of the swords,” and it’s conceivable that lines of rotting remains, such as wooden or leather pods called pods, or silver inlays on the handles “will become visual during conservation,” Seiler, Larsson and Appelgren said.
In addition to swords, the burials contained cremated human and animal bones, in addition to those of horses, dogs, and birds that may have been sacrificed for the rite of burial, as well as game pieces made from whale bones, silver knots, shipping pottery, iron nails, and iron rivets. which would possibly reflect Viking shipments or other wooden structures. The team also discovered bear claws, most likely skins that have since decayed, and grains, most likely sent to the afterlife, the archaeologists said.
Why swords buried upright?
It is a mystery why the swords were placed standing, but one imaginable explanation is that it was a way of consecrating the deceased to Odin; Swords stuck to the ground (and in some cases, spears and arrowheads) would likely have been an idea to ease the transition to Valhalla, archaeologists said.
However, some researchers recommend that sharp objects nailed to graves were “a way to prevent the dead from rising,” the team said. “We don’t think this applies to those graves, because swords were very valuable objects. Instead, it is possible that only knives or arrowheads were used, which would have been much cheaper. “
Related: Rare Viking Sword Break Reunited 1,200 Years Apart
Whatever the reason, chances are the swords also served as a reminder of the dead to the living. The hilts of the swords “lie superficially in the graves and must have been visible in the Viking Age,” Seiler, Larsson. and Appelgren said, “Perhaps the fathers visited the graves and, by touching the swords, made connections with the dead. “
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Archaeologists plan to soon analyze human remains in sword burials, which will help them determine each person’s gender, age at death and whether one or more people were buried in each grave. It’s tempting to think that all of those graves involve men, however, “we can’t be sure,” as Viking women buried with weapons have been discovered, they said.
While the team has not yet dated the radiocarbon burials, “one can suspect that the tombs with swords were built at the same time,” Seiler, Larsson and Appelgren said. Perhaps they reflect two brothers/sisters in arms who died in the same battle?This is, of course, hypothetical, but it represents an impressive possibility. “
Laura is editor-in-chief of Archaeology/History and Life’s Little Mysteries at Live Science. He also reports on general science, adding archaeology and paleontology. His paintings have been published in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum on autism research. He has won several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for his reporting in a weekly near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in clinical writing from NYU.
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