A well-stocked grave of a blacksmith from the Viking Age is one of the best finds in Norway last year, according to Norwegian archeologists.
This was one of the tools found in the blacksmith's grave. The archeologists think his contemporaries wanted to show how talented and versatile the blacksmith was in his craft [Credit: Howell Roberts/University Museum of Bergen]
Leif Arne Nordheim, who lives in Sogndalsdalen on Norway’s west coast, decided to do something about some flagstones in his garden that irritatingly refused to lie flat. When he removed the stones he caught sight of something made of iron.
Brushing some of the objects off, he recognised them as a blacksmith’s hammer and tongs.
Nordheim contacted the regional culture authorities but had not dreamed that the artefacts dated back to the early Viking Age.
