RARE FIND
‘First of its kind’ Viking sword from the 10th century with rare animal carvings is unearthed by metal detectorist
The unqie artefact is set to go on public display in 2025
A METAL detectorist has accidentally discovered a 1000-year-old Viking sword fragment with unique animal carvings.
The incredible discovery was made by a treasure hunter Sander Visser while scanning a farmland in northern Netherlands.
1
Visser began digging the ground after hearing a distinctive beep from his machine - only to find a rare pommel cap buried just a few inches beneath the surface.
He donated the find to the Fries Museum, experts concluded the artefact - described as "first of its kind" - could be part of a 10th-century gilded sword.
The unique Viking-era artefact features intricate patterns in the Mammen style, a decorative art tradition that was said to be quite prevalent in the Viking culture.
The artefact is divided into five distinct sections, with the outer edges showcasing wild boar heads.
more on vikings
A spokesperson for Fries Museum said: "The boars upward curling mouths are still clearly visible."
In Viking culture, wild boars symbolized strength, courage, and protection - the qualities often associated with warfare.
The central section of the pommel cap has an intricate swirled knot design that experts say highlights the craftmanship of that ere.
Dr. Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm, director of the Fryske Akademy said in a statement: “This extraordinary find shows that there is still a lot to discover about the Viking Age in Frisia.
Most read in Science
"It enriches our understanding of Viking and Frisian interactions."
Experts have said the rare artefact, said to be of great symbolic value was often passed down by elite Viking fighters across generations.
The sword fragment is set to go on public display at the Fries Museum in 2025.
It comes after two Rookie "archaeologists" found an incredible collection of ancient Viking treasure with a "highly unusual" surprise on a tiny island.
The Northman trailer: An action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father’s murder
John Crowe and David O’Hare were busy exploring the British Isle of Man with their metal detector in hopes of making a ground-breaking discovery.
And to their incredible luck, they managed to unearth a hoard of ancient Viking-era coins - with some of them still in their original form.
The amazing collection includes 36 silver coins that were minted in different locations in England - and span from around 1000 to 1065 CE.
Experts found the coins came from locations like York, London, Lincoln, Cambridge, Hastings, Ipswich and Exeter.
Some of them were created under the reign of Edward the Confessor, the king of England from 1042 to 1066, magazine reports.
Others were minted when Canute the Great ruled England from 1016 to 1035 and formed the North Sea empire by unifying England, Denmark and Norway.
The collection also includes some Irish coins that experts claim were produced in a mint in Dublin close to 1014.
A brief history of the Vikings...
THE Viking Age is a period in European history and dates from around 800 to 1050AD
Some groups of Vikings did live on for a bit longer after this period in different countries across the globe
They originated in Scandinavia and travelled all over the world on their famous Viking ships
The Vikings were known for raiding and trading from their homelands across wide areas of northern, central and Eastern Europe, during the late 8th to late 11th centuries – now become known as The Viking Age.
They carried out many raids on Anglo-Saxon Britain – the first recorded raid was in 793.
And they continued to make regular raids around the coasts of England, looting and capturing people as slaves.
Gradually, the raiders began to settle and stay in the British land they had seized – mainly in the east and north of England.
In 866, the Vikings captured modern York (Viking name: Jorvik) and turned it into their capital.
The Viking raiding did not stop - different bands of Vikings made regular raiding voyages around the coasts of Britain a few hundred years after this.
Vikings created a trade network that spanned the globe and evidence of similar house styles, jewellery, tools and lots of other everyday equipment can be found in many different countries
The Viking Age in Britain ended when the Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066
Vikings are usually depicted as having horns on their helmets but there is only one well-preserved helmet from the Viking Age and this does not have horns.
Kristin Bornholdt Collins, a leading expert in Viking Age coins who carefully studied the discovery, said: "This important hoard was likely assembled in two or more stages, with the earlier English and Irish coins deposited together in the first instance, and the later coins dating to Edward the Confessor added later.
"This new hoard might be compared to a wallet containing all kinds of credit cards, notes and coins, perhaps of different nationalities, such as when you prepare to travel overseas."
Meanwhile, an ancient set of teeth from the Viking era has revealed signs of a brutal "initiation ritual" that marked their social identities.
Damnnig new evidence found after studying 1000-year-old remains of a man shows the Vikings filled horizontal grooves into the teeth that apparently helped them to identify as merchant men.
Archaeologists Matthias Toplak of the Viking Museum Haithabu and Lukas Kerk of the University of Münster in Germany found the bizarre tooth filings in the remains of 130 males from the Baltic isle of Gotland.
Masterfully filled horizontal grooves have been found inside the skulls of men from Sweden and Denmark in a practice that experts think may have persisted for years.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Research suggests that these teeth fillings were found in places known to support trading - and that all individuals with filed teeth appear to be adult men.
They have been analyzing the modifications closely, looking for a possible explanation for the bizarre methods.
Topics