Dark red-brown and twisting back and forth with a stubby nub raised toward the sky you’d be forgiven for thinking it was some kind of serpent. Once upon a time it was certainly dangerous. This is actually a sword, made unusable by bending as part of a ritual common across northern Europe at the time.

It may be a Celtic spatha type and was only one of two bent swords found along with a spear head and burnt bones during the excavation of a cremation burial in 1901. The other sword, was a distinctive “Mars and Victoria sword” with inlayed decoration and likely to have come from the roman empire. The yellow metal that decorated this sword had melted telling us it was placed on the pyre along with the owner of the grave.

• Grieg, S. 1926: Hadelands eldste bosetningshistorie. Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, II. Hist.-Filos. Klasse 1925. No. 2.
• Rosenqvist, A. M. 1967-1968: Sverd med klinger ornert med figurer i kopperlegeringer fra eldre jernalder i Universitetets Olsakssamling. Årbok 1967-1968. 143-200. Oslo.
• Rygge, E. W. 1969: Victoria-Sverd i Norge. In Nicolay. Nr. 6. Oslo.