It all started the day after New Year's Eve, first of January 2014. Since it had been a late night I didn't head out detecting before dinner. So I had to put on my headlamp as it was pitch black outside. After a few hours in the field the landowner came by and asked if I had found something nice. And I told her about a Viking age coin I had found last week, but as for today I had nothing but trash in my bag. Then she told me about this old path leading up to a ridge. It made me exited, and I headed towards the ridge. To get to it I had to face a barbed wire fence, somehow I managed to get over without getting stuck or damage my clothing. But because the night was dark I had trouble finding the path. So after digging a few signals I decided to just head to the top of the ridge and detect there instead. When I reached the top I had to rest a bit and then I got to it. Just after a minute or two I got this really strong and solid iron signal. The "Target Trace" jumped all over the screen. As I started to pinpoint the headphones was screaming in my ears indicating something big and not too deep. I hoped it was a nice ax-head as I put my shovel into the soil. I cut out a nice big plug and flipped it over. I pulled out my PRO-FIND 25 and started to locating the find. But I soon realized this was something bigger than an ax-head, and got a bit disappointed. I now thought it was an old cooking pan or an old door to an oven. I had to extend the plug size to get whatever is down there out. After a bit of digging I found myself looking at a long narrow object. As I am looking at it I'm thinking for myself; Is it...? Can it be...? It can't be...! I carefully pulled it out and laid it on the ground. HOLY.... It IS a sword.
I took a few pictures and put it back into the hole to its original position and covered it over with the dirt and plugs I had pulled out. (You see, In Norway, All objects and sites dating from before 1537AD is automatically protected by law. And is to be considered as the property of the government.) So I called up the county Archaeologist and told him about my find. He was thrilled to hear the good news, and congratulated me many times. So today (3. of January) he came to help me dig up the objects that I had exposed to the air. And to take them back to the museum to preserve them.
After 3 hours of careful digging and documentation, he could pick up the Items. It turned out to be 1 Viking sword, 1 scythe and 1 Viking battle-ax.
The Archaeologist said he think the Items dates back to about 700AD, early Viking age. The "owner" grave was not to be found any remains of. Only the offering goods remained. It is still two items left in the grave but they will not be excavated before the spring/summer. This is a true find of a lifetime. Thank you for reading
Bard - Hordaland Fylke, Norway
