A statement from Jonkoping County Museum reports that eight-year-old Swedish-American girl Saga Vanacek found an exceptionally well-reserved Saga-sword in Sweden. The sword has been lost for more than a thousand years.
The sword included a cover made from leather and wood. The find was kept secret for months while archaeologists surveyed the site, the Vidostern lake. The museum has dated the sword to the 5th or 6th century, before the time of the Vikings.
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Eight-Year Old Girl Found Saga-Sword in Sweden
Saga was paddling in a southern Swedish lake when she came across something she thought was a stick. However, it turned out to be a sword – about 33 inches long, black-brown with age and rust.
In a Facebook post her father, Andy Vanecek, wrote that she “lifted it high above her head, and shouted, as if she was Pippi Longstocking, (a Swedish storybook heroine), ’Daddy! I found a sword!
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Archaeologists made two surveys
According to Andy Vanecek’s Facebook post the find was made 15 July. “After the sword was found we have made two surveys, we found a fibula from the period 300-400 A.D.,” Anders Kraft, archaeologist with the County Administrative Board in Jonkoping said in an email. “It’s still unclear if the sword is from the same period, we need more scientific analyzes to find out.”
Visitors must wait one year to see the sword on display
The Vaneck family is relieved that they no longer have to hide the news. “I think maybe I found it harder to keep secret than she did,” Vanecek said. “It’s cool that it will be in a museum and it might even say ‘Saga’s sword’ and it might be there for thousands of years.”
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According to the Jonkoping Museum, visitors in search of the sword will have to wait for about a year before seeing it on display, while specialists complete conservation work on the object.
Eight-Year Old Girl Found Saga-Sword in Sweden, written by Tor Kjolberg