Vikinswords in Finland

[Snowman]

Hi!

Here in Finland Mr. Mikko Moilanen is just made a Doctoral dissertation about Viking era swords.Here is text borroved one Finnish newspaper:

"Contrary to what is commonly seen in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, there is a great wealth of well-produced swords in continental Finland, mainly for Viking and Crusaders (ca. 800-1200 AD).

At the University of Turku, Mikko Moilasen, Master of Philosophy in Philosophy, commonly believed that these so-called "spit" spells were from central European brands where this technique was practiced.

- The products of the hooves were of course considered high quality tops, which was why they were considered as luxury objects.

These iron swords with iron preserves Moilanen found a large number of swords in the younger Iron Age of Finland, as many as 151 pieces. He emphasizes that the number of swords was surprisingly high since it was not even possible to go through the whole course of the study."

regards Markku

[Snowman]

"Janakkala's swordsman is a mourning burial in Janakkala in autumn 2013, which includes a skeleton, two swords and other objects. The older sword takes place on the Viking Age and the younger sword for the Crusade. [1] The deceased person has died around 1300. On the basis of tomography, or x-ray examinations, it has been estimated that a man would have experienced violent death. [2]

According to the timing of the skeleton's hands on the bones, the deceased is a man and died around 1300. There are objects in the grave that originate from the age of paganism. The set of charcoal on the face is timed to 1000, ie the Viking Age. The two swords to discover are also timed. The shorter, palm-like sword (Z-type), according to the style and shape classification of the swords, runs between 950 and 1050, and the sword may originate from the pre-Christian time grave. The longer is the Crusader sword (type XI) and 1050 to 1200 [3]."

Here one "swordman" in Finland -photos borrowed from museum site...

regards Markku

According to Simo Vanhatalo, a researcher at the pagan age, the pagan artefacts were sometimes found in other tombs of the Christian period. In addition to the swords, the tomb still has some timeless objects with a spear tip, an ax and a knife. [3]

The DNA study published in January 2018 has shown that the mother's swordsman's genus has a type that is 30 percent of Finns. Only a couple of three percent of the father's inheritance is the same as that of the modern Finns. According to Professor Jan Storå, a swordsman would seem to have been a local man whose genius would rather come from the West and South than from the East. The data is preliminary because there is no time reference for time [4].

[RobertGuy]

The widely differing dates for the two sword types shown raises some very interesting questions. Was the shorter Viking style sword a family heirloom, handed down over hundreds of years? Was it buried in its shortened state? ie a broken sword kept to commemorate an ancestor's great deeds? Was the 1300s burial dug through an earlier grave and the grave goods found re-interred? Or am I missing the point entirely? I hope this will lead to an informative debate. Great post Snowman

[Snowman]

This "man" founded in field near village "Janakkala". Near place has been early primitive "castle"-perhaps there has been perhaps more battles this area...-and same field found one other sword and other reliks in diffrent place-not far away this skeletonman. Both sword was situated like on photo-in same grave-the grave is re-constructed now in museum.Swords was expencive on those days-and is quite good guess that this older viking-era sword was family relik.

I belive You can find more if You write to google "Janakkalan miekkamies".

regards Markku

[Victrix]

The so-called viking era is arguably harder to define in Scandinavia and the Nordics as the periods before and after are not that different (culture was embedded). Conversion to Christianity was a long and drawn out process taking centuries. Initially the most visible signs of conversion were the replacement of Thor’s hammer with the Cross, and burial practices. But culturally things changed only slowly as the viking rune stones with crosses can attest. It’s highly plausible that the grave belongs to a Christian knight who’s family was converted for one or two generations, and intriguingly that the viking sword is an inherited family heirloom. Judging by the state of the later crusader sword it’s possible that the older sword was broken through decay in the grave? Typically objects were not placed in Christian graves so the presence of the swords may show left-over pagan practices?

I’m not sure how to interpret the gene info. Is the mother’s genes basically local Nordic/Scandinavian whilst the father’s genes would be different (German, British,...)? Given the migrations taking place in Europe in the centuries before this burial, I wonder how accurate this sort of thing can be?

[Snowman]

Following text borroved from mr. Vanhatalo,Finland:

"The swordsman, from the current point of view, was in the seam of the ages - the prehistoric iron age and the crusade were about to end and the Middle Ages begin. Society with its taxes and churches had begun to take shape.

Time cannot be said to be peaceful: Sweden became a crusader and a fighter from Novgorod to the present Russian territory, Vanhatalo says.

The soldier was buried in a Christian way in the east-west direction, and in the longer sword there was a cross image and a Bene-text, which, according to the Old House, refers to Benedict, the name of the Pope.

The rare finding is located near the Hakoinen Castle Mountain, and Vanhatalo thinks that the soldier may well have belonged to the village defending army, where the crowd was gathered if necessary. However, this is difficult to know because there were no clues around the tomb beyond the third sword.

[Victrix]

It’s a very exciting find indeed! I love this transitional time period when nation states (if you can call them that) or kingdoms start to take their shapes and forms.

[Pukka Bundook]

I agree with Victrix, Very interesting!

Thank you for posting this, Markku!

Richard.

[Victrix]

I’m currently reading Sword in Hand (2000) by Ewart Oakeshott (highly recommended!). It has a reference to Dr Jorma Leppaaho of the University of Helsinki who researched findings of viking and early knightly swords in Finland in the 1960s. Oakeshott wrote ”It is unfortunate that most of the swords in these graves are broken... a lot of their hilts are in outstandingly good condition while the blades have perished or deliberately been broken.”

Also I found by chance a book by Mikko Moilanen (mentioned by Markku in his original post) called Marks of Fire, Value and Faith (2015) about swords found in Finland. Seems to be a treasure trove of information available for those interested.

[Snowman]

Hi!

I just read that book of Moilanen. He is very good ironsmith too-
makes swords with origanal thecnics and use materials of
"old days"...

Fine book of vikingswords..how they are made..and used...And
why here in Finland is found so many that type of swords.

regards Markku

[Lee]

Please note that Dr. Moilanen's thesis is available as a free pdf download from the university where he received his degree. Strongly recommended!