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

Snartemo Sword - North Germanic Spatha from around 500 – 500 AD

Faithful reproduction of the Snartemo Sword.

The sword was discovered by chance in the autumn of 1933 during the development of new farmland in a grave. The grave was located under a large stone slab in a cavity that was dated to the early 6th century. Further grave goods, including a golden ring and a drinking glass, allowed the grave to be assigned to the Migration Period. The sword was named after its find site "Snartemo," in the Snartemo district of Hægebostad in Norway.

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

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

The sword was most likely manufactured in Scandinavia around 500 AD and is not considered a typical ring-sword, but rather, due to its divergent characteristics, is assigned to an earlier period. The pommel of the sword is not pyramidal but boat-shaped. Furthermore, the ring is located on the quillon and not, as is usual with ring-swords, on the pommel.

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

This very finely crafted North Germanic Migration Period spatha has a slightly sharpened, re-sharpenable 440 steel blade. The hardened steel blade has a fuller and is screwed to the hilt. The original of this sword is housed in the state museum in Oslo.