Posts: 1,757 Location: Storvreta, Sweden
Thu 12 Feb, 2009 1:28 pm
This is one of the
seaxes from Bjärs, Gotland. ( To be exact: Bjärs, grave 27)
It is a Vendel period weapon, that shares some similarities with those found in Valsgärde: decorative rivets set in grip, decorative rivets set in scabbard as well as bronze plates and decorative carving in the wood. The ferrules of the grip are unique, although this "wing nut" shaped rivet block appears in many different guises on seaxes and knives over a wide time period and geographical area. You find them on personal knives in scandinavia in the late roman iron age and it is a surviving feature on contemporary finnish Puukko knives (although then made in one with the pommel).
Measurements on the Bjärs 27 seax is:
Blade length: 43 cm (originally about 45 cm)
Blade width: 3 cm
Grip length: 10.5 cm
Surviving length of scabbard: 50 cm (but was originally longer) and width: 4.5 cm
The scabbard for this knife did not enclose the grip, but left it wholly exposed. It was made of wood slats and reinforced with bronze plates and domed rivets, carved with highly abstracted zoomorphic decorations.
I think Bjärs 27 can be classified as a Schmalsax (narrow seax) even though it is slightly long for the type (they tend to be 22-40 cm long). I don´t remember the official dating of this knife, but at a guess, late 6th C.
I have not read the report on the Bjärs finds, only browsed through Per Olsén: Die Saxe von Valsgärde, where many examples are shown and described, including the Bjärs 27. Data is from that publication.