Snartemo sword, North Germanic spatha from the 5th century.

Snartemo sword - North Germanic spatha from the period around 500 AD.

Faithful reproduction of the Snartemo sword.

The sword was discovered by chance in the autumn of 1933 during the clearing of new farmland, found in a grave. The grave was located beneath a large stone slab in a cavity dating back to the early 6th century. Other grave goods, including a gold ring and a drinking glass, allowed the grave to be dated to the Migration Period. The sword was named after the site of its discovery, "Snartemo," in the Snartemo district of Hægebostad, Norway.

The original sword also came with a fur-lined wooden scabbard and the remains of a fabric band decorated with a swastika pattern, which probably served as a sword hanger.

The hilt of the original sword is decorated with golden tendril ornaments, human figures, fantasy creatures and animal heads.

The sword was most likely made in Scandinavia around 500 AD and is not considered a typical ring-sword, but rather, due to its unusual features, is attributed to an earlier period. The pommel of the sword is not pyramid-shaped, but boat-shaped. Furthermore, the ring is located on the crossguard and not, as is usual with ring-swords, on the pommel.

The small ring on the crossguard is also referred to as the oath ring by some weapons historians.

This finely crafted North Germanic spatha from the Migration Period has a lightly sharpened, resharpenable 440 steel blade. The hardened steel blade is tanged and screwed to the end of the hilt. The original of this sword is housed in the National Museum in Oslo.