An interesting grave was found in Finland just recently. The grave contained a body of a man, two swords, an axe and some spear heads. The grave has been dated to about year 1100, the time of crusades in Finland.

The swords were very different. The smaller one is from earlier time, from wiking age and it had been burned so it had been in a fire burial before it was placed in this grave . The larger one is very long for its age, about 120 cm with a disk pommel.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/947282_708750362487219_810561285_n.jpg

A video of the find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuAjVi7CP2I&feature=youtu.be

Great video!

IIRC, some short-lived transitional funeral customs up here are known to have involved old-fashioned burning with sacrificial items as well as a new-fangled grave burial; the time period seems about right for that. I wonder if it's a solitary grave or part of a field, and what type of grave exactly.

But then again, if the other goods and the body itself were not burned... maybe he was an archaeologist himself? :D

Also, damn that's a big sword, even for a XI! :eek:

Fascinating! Is the little one type Z? That type might well be from second half of 11th century so not that older than the big one.
Btw, Mikko, why do you think the big one is a XII?

That's XI and an exclamation mark. :D

Very cool! I assume these will be cleaned properly and displayed somewhere? What a lucky find! That type Z could be late and the XI could be early...finds like this have changed accepted theories about dating too. Who knows? Hopefully we'll get some follow up...