A First-Grader Found a Viking Sword in a Field

Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt is six years old and in his first year of school in Norway. He was on a class field trip when he spotted something strange sticking out of the ground — interesting, but impossible to identify.

He pulled the object from the soil and discovered it was a sword. Archaeologists estimate the find to be approximately 1,300 years old.

The weapon was identified as a single-edged sword — sharpened on one side only. Swords like this were common across Scandinavia from roughly 550 to 800 AD. The discovery was made in the Hadeland region, a name that translates to “Land of the Warrior”. The area has yielded artifacts from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages, but a sword found by a six-year-old on a school outing is still a remarkable event.

The teachers and children didn’t try to handle the find themselves — they called the archaeologists straight away. The regional heritage authority was quick to praise them: “We are incredibly proud of the children who managed to spot the sword in the field. Well done! And we are very pleased they did everything right: they called an archaeologist”.

The sword has been transferred to the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, where it will be conserved and studied further.