Archeology

Goose hunters find a beautifully preserved 1000-year old Viking sword

By Staff

A fruitful hunting trip The hunters did not mange to catch a single goose but returned with this fantastic sword. Photo/Árni Björn

Five local goose hunters returned with a rather different catch than they intended, when they found a sword that is believed to be at least 1000-year old.

“We were going hunting but the tour turned into archaeology digging,” said Árni Björn Valdimarsson, one of the hunters, in an interview with local news site Vísir. “Actually we did not have to do any digging as the sword just lay there in the sand,” he added and explained they think that the sword washed up in a recent flood.

Árni Björn posted the picture of the sword on his Facebook page on Friday and received within ten minutes a phone call from the Cultural Heritage Agency of Iceland.

The sword is beautifully preserved and it’s discovery is big news according Kristín Huld Sigurðardóttir, the director of the Cultural Heritage Agency, as only twenty swords have previously been found from this period.

The sword was found in Skaftárhreppur district in the area of Eldvatn river in South Iceland. The exact location has not been made available as the Cultural Heritage Agency has not yet sent a research team to the area.

According to Árni Björn his hunting crew did not catch a single goose during the trip but finding the sword more than saved the tour.

Here you can see a clip from The National Broadcasting Service, when the hunting crew delivered the sword to the Cultural Heritage Agency.

This story was updated on 7 September.