🥇 BANNER Best find of the year, Viking age grave

[Bard Gauden]

Hi to you all.

On the 1. of January I did an amazing find,
A find most detectorists will never get.

I found an early viking age sword! As soon as i realized what it was i carefully put it back in the hole and covered it back up.
Then I called my "state Archeologist" and told him about my find. He was very thrilled.

Today he came to excavate my find. (Third of January)
(You see, In Norway, all finds dating from before 1537 is automaticly protected by law)
And as he dug we found a complete sword (broken in 5 pices), 1 battle-ax and a scythe.
Even thou the person that was buried there is dissolved and not to be found, It is still most definetly a grave.

After he had removed the Items I checked the grave with my detector and there was still two pices left.
But they will be staying in the ground untill the summer. Then it will be a bigger excavation, as it might be more than one grave there.

Hope you like what I show you, and tell me if you want more pictures. EDIT; Check out page 5 for a lot more pics from the excavation

 

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[tidetraveler]

Great find and thanks for sharing!

 

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[Bard Gauden]

I had a grerat day in the field with four archeologists.

I got to help them out with various things and use my ctx to detect new objects in the grave site.

I allso got to make a map of where metal is detected in the ground around at the grave site.

Here is some more pics of finds and the excavation.

"Edit" the picture that is censored shows the view from the grave out over the Hardanger-fjord.

Edit 2; just to tell you the blue item is a glas-pearl found in the middle of the grave. I expect to find more tomorrw.

 

[Irony]

Hey Bard, I am just curious do you get any sort of insensitive for this recovery and being honest?

Uhm I think you mean incentive, like national recognition or financial reward...sorry my copwriting/editing past shows itself sometimes!

 

[Bard Gauden]

Uhm I think you mean incentive, like national recognition or financial reward...sorry my copwriting/editing past shows itself sometimes!

I am not sure If I get any finacial reward for the find, but anyway I have made my way into the historybooks with this find!
I have had my name in some news articles and I got to speak on the radio yesterday.


Here are some pics of the coin I found about 300ft from the grave site 2 weeks ago, Dates to about 900-1000AD

 

[NewsMan]

Congrats on the find and honesty (as a part Norwegian-American). Just surprised so many people are congratulating the turn in. From what I have read here from members, most folks are against turning anything over to anyone and just keeping it for themselves. Guarantee you 90% of the folks here that would stumble upon an indian grave wouldn't tell a soul and just sell it off or hide it away in their collections. Maybe the system your country has set up fosters your honest behavior? By you turning this stuff over it is clear a ton will be learned from it. The sword alone appears to be very rare with a number of possibilities with its make that will help understand these people better. I know it seems I sometimes rain on the parade but the complete turnaround of people's reactions is just too obvious not to say something.

 

[taz42o]

Yes I find it interesting that everyone throws a fit if someone detects for LOST coins, rings, ect ,above (6"-10" deep) modern graves
But then everyone thinks its great that an archaeologist digs up an entire grave and steals the contents.
Im curious, how long do i have to be dead before its ok to dig me up and steal my stuff.

 

[NoBootyYet]

Very nice find and share, Thank you.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Yes I find it interesting that everyone throws a fit if someone detects for LOST coins, rings, ect ,above (6"-10" deep) modern graves
But then everyone thinks its great that an archaeologist digs up an entire grave and steals the contents.
Im curious, how long do i have to be dead before its ok to dig me up and steal my stuff.

Let's us know when you cross over and we will time it....








3%

SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM

MALO PERICULOSAM, LIBERTATEM QUAM QUIETAM SERVITUTEM


We will NOT go quietly into the night!

 

[taz42o]

I told them to chuck my carcass in the town dump so feel free to dig as soon as you like.

 

[Admiral de Salee]

Outstanding!! Yah, I'd say a Viking grave is a Banner thing..

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I told them to chuck my carcass in the town dump so feel free to dig as soon as you like.

LOL






3%

SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM

MALO PERICULOSAM, LIBERTATEM QUAM QUIETAM SERVITUTEM


We will NOT go quietly into the night!

 

[Bard Gauden]

Thanks for all the coments lads

The third day of excavation is over and we pulled out some nice objects today.

We found 1 pearl, 1 celt/ax-thingy, a bridle, 1 whetstone, and the unidentified object.

The Unidentified object was removed with the soil surounding it and will be brouht to the lab to be X-rayed and excavated there.
They have no Idea what it is, but it have some silver on it

I dont have any pictures of the celt and bridle. I was not present when they was pulled out.
At the time I was going through the loose soil they had dug out to find metal fragments and pearls.

But here are some of the picture I took! (the image called "dag3 9 brynestein" is the Whetstone)

 

[Silver Searcher]

Yes I find it interesting that everyone throws a fit if someone detects for LOST coins, rings, ect ,above (6"-10" deep) modern graves
But then everyone thinks its great that an archaeologist digs up an entire grave and steals the contents.
Im curious, how long do i have to be dead before its ok to dig me up and steal my stuff.

I totally agree with what you are saying, I would never report a Ancient burial site to the Archy's, nore would I take any grave goods, they are placed in the ground by loved one's...and should stay there un-touched.

SS

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

Unbelievable, here in North America we look for 100 year old stuff. In Europe you folks are so lucky to have such an old and rich history to work with...Same planet, different worlds.

(I found a Viking artifact here in Indiana once, it was an NFL key chain!)

 

[theseeker]

Bard Gauden, congratulations on your incredible find!!!! It truly is a once in a lifetime discovery and it could be the only the tip of the iceberg! There could be much more in proximity to what you found. That will be discovered when a full archaeological survey is conducted in the summer. Congratulations again!!!

theseeker

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

nice find , you could have had one heck of a collection there , Super museum stuff . kidding

 

[Bard Gauden]

Yesterday we finished the excavation.
The morning started with a bit rain, but as the time went the sky cleared and the sun gave us a nice day.

We took out an Item but due to a short deadline, the Item was not identified on site.

Thank you for folowing my posts, I will get back with updates when the Items have been identified

I found a nice pearl made of amber.

 

[JunkShopFiddler]

Are you guys making a documenting video? This thread has been way better than the shows we get here in the US. A detectorist in England found that huge Saxon hoard a few years ago and the video was amazing.

 

[Bard Gauden]

Are you guys making a documenting video? This thread has been way better than the shows we get here in the US. A detectorist in England found that huge Saxon hoard a few years ago and the video was amazing.

Thanks for the good words

No we hav not done any recording, but now when I think about it, I realize I should have put up a GO pro and recorded all through the days and made a video of it.

I promiss, If I ever do another find like this It will be video documented

 

[Bard Gauden]

Yes I find it interesting that everyone throws a fit if someone detects for LOST coins, rings, ect ,above (6"-10" deep) modern graves
But then everyone thinks its great that an archaeologist digs up an entire grave and steals the contents.
Im curious, how long do i have to be dead before its ok to dig me up and steal my stuff.

First off. This grave was very shallow 2-10 inches.

Second; archaeologists dont dig up known graves because they are protected by law.
But when an unknown grave is disturbed they dig it up to preserve the Items it contains.
If I had known this was a grave before digging into it, I still would have called the archaeologists, they would register it, and it would not been dug up, atleast not before someone wants to build on top of it.

The owner of the grave have been dead for about 1300 years. That is quite a while to lay in peace.

You know modern graves are reused when there is on one to pay the "rent" anylonger. So they dig it up and reuse it.


I respect your opinion, and thanks for comenting