Investigations are underway to learn more about the origins of a medieval sword found at the bottom of a Polish river earlier this month that some experts believe belonged to the Vikings.
The sword bears a “mysterious inscription” and is one of eight weapons of this type discovered so far in Poland, according to the Voivodship Office for Monument Protection in Toruń, a town near where the sword was found that is itself a protected World Heritage Site, wrote in a translated announcement on Facebook. Workers unearthed the sword from the bottom of Poland's Vistula river while dredging the port of Włocławek, located about 30 miles from Toruń.
Preliminary analyzes of the weapon, which had survived centuries of corrosion, traced its origins back more than 1,000 years to the 10th century AD, the cultural agency said. This period is significant for Poland, which did not exist before the founding of the House of Piasts in this century, the earliest known dynasty to settle in this area and begin the first recorded rule over what is now Polish lands. Officials wondered in their announcement whether the sword might have been a testament to the formation of Polish statehood.
Provincial Office for Monument Protection in Toruń
Weapons of this type, with a simple blade extending symmetrically from the base, are typically considered by historians to have originated in northwestern Europe. Their connections to Scandinavian and Frankish culture – a part of modern-day Germany that emerged in the Middle Ages – help historians paint a more detailed picture of how Poland became its own country. Scandinavian influences are believed to have left their mark on Poland in the Middle Ages, officials say, although the relationship between the Scandinavian Vikings and the region of modern-day Poland is somewhat unclear and continues to be a topic of interest to historians around the world.
The sword discovered in Włocławek was examined in more detail under an X-ray scanner, which revealed an inscription hidden under layers of corrosion. The inscription reads “U[V]LFBERTH,” which could be read as “Ulfberht,” a mark found on a group of about 170 medieval swords found mostly in northern Europe. Each dates from the 9th, 10th or 11th centuries, and some experts have suggested that the word is a Frankish personal name, perhaps indicating the origin of the weapons. However, much is still unknown about the weapons and their origins, and not everyone is convinced that the sword once had ties to the Vikings.
Provincial Office for Monument Protection in Toruń
Robert Grochowski, a Polish archaeologist, told the Warsaw newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza that while these types of swords are often referred to as “Viking swords,” they were technically made in areas in what is now Germany and were widely traded across Europe. They may have reached Central Europe this way, including Poland, possibly via Scandinavia.
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“I don’t know where the idea that the sword belonged to a Viking came from,” Grochowski said in translated comments. “Without detailed research, this is completely unjustified. It’s hard to say more than the fact that it’s an early medieval sword.”
Researchers plan to further study the ancient sword at the Nicholas Copernicus University in Toruń. It will eventually be preserved and exhibited in a history museum in Włocławek.
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Emily Mae Czachor