Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, December 27, 2023
People crisscrossed a town square in Sweden. Cars drove through. Birds flew over, occasionally stopping to peck for food.
Underneath the hubbub of modern life, a medieval secret went unnoticed — not anymore.
Archaeological excavations of the Lilla Torg square in Halmstad found 49 graves from the medieval period, according to a Dec. 19 blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland. The burials originally rested under a convent that functioned from 1494 to 1531.
One grave stood out from the others: the grave of a very tall, elite man.
Archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of a 6-foot-2 man with a longsword resting on his left side, officials said. The sword was well-preserved and measured over 4 feet in length.
Photos show archaeologists holding the huge sword. It appears a bit crusty with brown rust or dirt stuck to it. The darker black-brown of the blade is visible in some sections.
An x-ray image of the sword showed an inlaid decoration of two crosses, archaeologists said. The crosses were likely made of precious metal. A photo shared by the Cultural Environment of Halland on Facebook shows this x-ray.
The remnants of the at least 500-year-old weapon measure about 4-feet-3, but the total length of the sword is unknown, the blog post said.
Swords are rarely found in medieval graves, the Cultural Environment of Halland said in a Facebook post. The presence of a sword indicates that the deceased was an elite or high-class person.
Archaeologists removed the sword, wrapped it up and sent it to a lab for preservation and further study. Excavations at the square are ongoing.
Halmstad is about 270 miles southwest from Stockholm.
Google Translate was used to translate the blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland. Facebook Translate was used to translate the posts from the Cultural Environment of Halland.
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