Thank you so much for posting this exciting sword! It seems it has been quite a month for finds and publishing of earlier ones.
As the article indicates it seems most likely this sword is not actually Norwegian though a grave find located in Norway. I agree with the suggestion this is more in line with Anglo-Saxon types and corresponds to similar forms such as in Oakeshott (1960, pp.133-36, fig. 57) which describes them as type V.
This type is considered to have been in use c. 875-950 AD, and the curved guard and peaked pommel according to Wheeler (1927) the form itself is regarded as English, Abingdon form (Ellis-Davidson, #67, plate X, p.55).
With regard to the 'turks heads', it seems that this is likely also English affectation, as seen in an example of 10th c. also a Thames find, which has remains of silver plaited wire circles which may have once held the leather grip cover. ("Swords of the Viking Age", Lee Jones & Ian Pearce, 2002, p.104).
Apparantly the swords of the Vikings were decorated by the smiths rather than by jewelers (Oakeshott, p.139) and the English swords were likely to have far more embellishment of this kind.
The spiral and geometric decoration seem to relate most likely to the complexities of Celtic and associated symbolism, while the other characters seem to be so as well rather than to be runes. Perhaps the pictograph of a hand holding a cross might represent some sort of blessing or achievement in the Church?
While in a pagan graveyard, it does not seem that such associations would be relevant in the case of a celebrated warrior or powerful figure.
|