An extremely rare battle knife, most likely from Scandinavia and over 1.2 thousand years old, was discovered by accident by archaeologists in Wdecki Landscape Park (Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship).
The discovery occurred during a search of the battlefield from April 5, 1091. As described in the Chronicle of Polish Gall Anonim, then prince Wladyslaw I Herman was to fight a battle with the Pomeranians somewhere on the river Wda, near the mysterious castle Drzu.
The researchers analyzed the lay of the land, the probable course of ancient routes and selected the area around Gródek for archaeological research, where they expected to find traces of events dating back over 900 years.
Meanwhile, archaeologists have come across a battle knife from the 8th century. Having discovered the mysterious object, they turned for an opinion to Dr. Piotr Pranke from the Department of Scandinavian and Central and Eastern European History at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The expert said that the item could be an extremely rare, very early Norwegian seax, dating from the mid-8th century AD.
The find occurred in April this year, but only now have scientists been able to gather more information about it. As Mateusz Sosnowski, an archaeologist who participates and coordinates the research on behalf of Wdecki Landscape Park, tells Nauka w Polsce, finding a weapon coming from Scandinavia on a battlefield from the end of the 11th century would not be anything unusual, however, archaeologists were intrigued by the unusual shape of the knife. If it were to date from the late 11th century, it would have to be much shorter than the one encountered during the archaeological dig.
The specimen uncovered by the archaeologists measures 90 cm, and its blade itself is 80 cm. “As you can see, it is a weapon of impressive size for a battle knife, which at this size could easily compete with two-handed swords from that period,” says Sosnowski.
Seax from Wdecki Landscape Park went to the conservators. Its discoverers want it to be presented to a wider audience after its renovation.