(ORDO NEWS) — On the territory of Battle, which is located on one of the Swedish islands of Gotland, experts have discovered the grave of a warrior. He was buried along with the sword, and there were spurs on his feet. Preliminary analysis of the remains showed that they belonged to a man who lived approximately between the 4th and 6th centuries.
Reported by The History Blog.
In this area, excavations began two years ago, but at first archaeologists found very few artifacts. In 2020, the excavations were suspended due to the pandemic. But already this year, the work continued and after a while this grave of the mysterious warrior was discovered. Scientists noted that the graves of warriors who had weapons from this period are an incredibly rare find, especially for Sweden.
The bones were discovered by accident when they excavated a stone circle built from limestone blocks. They tried to remove the soil as carefully as possible so as not to damage the remains. When archaeologists completely excavated the skeleton, they noticed that there were spurs on the man’s legs. After removing the earth from the belly, they additionally found a sword.
In order not to damage the remains of the bones, the area of the soil with the sword was covered with gypsum. In addition, it protected the ancient metal from oxidation that could occur as a result of exposure to air.
The length of the sword reaches 80 cm, and it was made of high quality bronze. We also managed to unearth part of the scabbard – the frame of the upper and lower ends, made of wood. There was a bronze acorn at the end of the sword hilt. In appearance, the weapon very much resembled the one used by the Roman soldiers in the 6-8 centuries. Therefore, experts suggested that the man could have fought for Rome, or he was in some kind of close relationship with the empire in order to get such a weapon.
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