A sword is probably the last thing you'd expect to find on a hike -- especially one that's more than a millennium old.
But that's what happened to a man in Norway who recently stumbled across a 1,200-year-old Viking sword while walking an ancient route.
The find, which dates from approximately 750 A.D. and is in exceptionally good condition, was announced by Hordaland County Council.
County Conservator Per Morten Ekerhovd described the discovery as "quite extraordinary."
What will future hikers think of our civilization when they stumble across our CueCats lying, discarded, under rocks?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Rickter on Saturday October 24 2015, @04:41PM
I saw a very interesting NOVA on PBS recently about a series of swords used by the Vikings labeled with the word ULFBERHT (many labelled similarly were counterfeits (like fake Swiss watches)). Unlike other swords of the time, these swords were made with a quality of steel not reproduced until modern times. In the program, a man from Wisconsin used only tools and techniques available to blacksmiths of the era to manufacture a copy of the sword. His effort was really cool and showed that somebody of that era had figured out how to make high quality steel about 1150 years ago, and then the techniques were lost.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:56PM
Damascus steel [wikipedia.org]?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Sunday October 25 2015, @02:09PM
Yes, I saw a show about this. May have been the same one. They decided this high quality steel could only have come from the Middle East, possibly through current day Russia, and this proved that Vikings traded extensively. The Rus originated from the Vikings. As to the steel, the high quality can only be achieved with kilns that can get the temperature hot enough, and civilization in and around the Middle East was one of the places that had such kilns.