Norwegian Homeowner Discovers 1100-Year-Old Viking Sword and Warrior's Grave in His Garden

In southern Norway, a man who was levelling the ground in his backyard to build an extension to his house unearthed an 1100-year-old Viking warrior's grave, complete with weaponry. The burial discoveries include a rusty iron sword in two pieces. The style of its hilt allowed archaeologists to date the burial to the late 800s or early 900s, during the Viking Age, according to Joakim Winterwall, an archaeologist working for the local government of Agder County, where the relics were found.

Oddbjørn Holum Heiland spent Friday evening levelling the ground in his garden, where he and his wife, Anna, planned to expand. As he removed the grass and topsoil, he encountered a large, flat stone, which he set aside and continued digging. When the excavator bucket struck the next layer, it unexpectedly hit something metallic.

Oddbjørn realized that the stone he had just removed might have been a grave marker. He did a little googling and found a photo of a nearly identical Viking-era sword that had been discovered in another part of the country some time ago.

"Then I realized it was probably something Viking," he said.

Oddbjørn did exactly what archaeologists hope people will do in such situations. He stopped digging, secured the excavated items in a safe place, and called the municipal authorities on Monday morning.

The following day after his call, county archaeologist Joakim Winterwall from Agder County and Yo-Simon Froschauer Stocke from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo arrived to examine the find.

Other artefacts found in the grave included a long lance meant for use on horseback called a "spear," golden-gilded glass beads, and a bronze brooch. No human or animal remains have been discovered so far.

It appears that the artefacts belonged to a Viking warrior.

"The spear suggests that this was someone who was skilled at fighting on horseback," Winterwall said. "The warrior was certainly wealthy, judging by the gold-gilded decorations."

"Graves with Viking weapons are very rare, and this grave is slightly richer than what we are used to. The objects have also been preserved a little better than those we usually work with," says Yo-Simon Froschauer Stocke, an archaeologist from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo who accompanied Winterwall during the examination.

It is possible that the Viking warrior was buried at the location so that his descendants could lay claim to the land surrounding him, Winterwall said. Or, perhaps it had purely familial significance.