A hiker exploring southwestern Norway recently discovered a 1,500-year-old golden sword ornament, a find experts say will offer a greater glimpse into the region’s chaotic Migration Period.
The University of Stavanger announced the discovery on May 5, noting the artifact was found in the Austrått district of Sandnes. The hiker, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said he enjoys exploring the local area and stumbled upon the piece while investigating the ground beneath a fallen tree.
“I saw a slight rise in the soil under the tree and poked it with a stick,” the man said in the university news release. “Suddenly I saw something gleaming. I didn’t quite understand what I had found.”
The object is a scabbard mount, measuring about 2 inches long and weighing just over an ounce. Created in the sixth century, the piece features intricate metalwork ornamentation that Siv Kristoffersen, a professor emerita at the University of Stavanger’s Archaeological Museum, described as some of the finest work of the era, according to Great Britain News Channel.
Other discoveries in the area
The Austrått find is one of several ritual sacrificial finds in the area. Similar discoveries include a 19th-century find of a silver necklace and a bronze cauldron discovered in 1907. Experts believe these offerings were meant to appease the gods during times of hardship while improving the status of local leaders.
Museum director and professor of archaeology Kristin Armstrong-Oma says the discovery will help further research within the ornamentation and learn more about the people who ruled the region at the time.
The latest find will be exhibited at the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger soon, Armstrong-Oma shared, according to the university release.