Probably not, but its certainly a handsome Viking era sword:

http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/fe...-terrible/

Ironically, I just got through telling someone that its unlikely one would find a shallow - buried medieval weapon under a tree. Shows what I know. But then, this one was found in Siberia...

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Hi J.D Crawford.
May be an other project for Robert moc after the one I an having him make for me now I love this sword.

Iron grip core! Not common. Looks like a long grip, too.

Are these iron grips normally covered or bare (or is this still in the "unknown" basket?)?

Beautiful sword! I would love to know blade length and width... The iron or bronze grip isn't unusual in eastern europe and baltic...

Lovely sword ... A few questions - The hilt appears to quite a bit longer than what I am accustomed to in swords of this period - Second - would a iron hilt not throw off the balance of the sword ? That looks to be a full sized pommel.

Yeah, I wonder about the balance too... But maybe the grip is wooden and just plated with iron?

The grip would not mess with it to much. Adding the weight at that point on the sword is going to have less effect then other places and often even wooden grips are covered with decorative metal at this time. This most likely would have been covered in gold, silver or niello (silver based alloy). As Luka says, the iron grip is seen in the area from the coast of finland and east of there the Baltic states and northern Russia. While longer than some I think the grip is still in the range of normal.

Peters comments on the article page detail the timing and such.

The article does mention "while my estimates were that the burial mound was not stretching as far as the tree" which indicates there was a group burial, their stated focus, and one would think more evidence of who. They where researching bronze age but do not state the burial was such. The dropped in conflict story I think may tell us more about our ourselves then the swords past.

The long hilt is also a not-uncommon feature in the Eastern Baltic region, here's a couple very similar examples. It's hard to see in this photo, but the first one has an unusual double fuller.
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http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service...detailView
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http://www.maidla.ee/maidla-mook

Craig,
Thanks for the clarification. The grip seems long enough for my hand.
I want one.
Lets talk.

Another similar example, which I was about to mention in a new thread...
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The double fullered example is very interesting. It looks like the fuller end closest to the tip is too corroded to see the details of its termination. Too bad.

I never knew that Ivan the Terrible had a sword because in most paintings he never held one.