Viking Age Swords on Gotland : A metallurgical perspective

Research about viking age swords is nothing new but for a long time the main focus have been different aspects of typologies which have evolved since early 20th century. During the last 30 years the still growing communities of Viking reenactment have shed new light upon the fighting skills of pre Christian Nordic societies. With developing knowledge of ancient metallurgy and understanding of swordsmithing we might have new ways to interpret the swords found originating in the 8th to 11th centuries. In this paper the author will be making an attempt to assess and analyze swords on Gotland to uncover whether they were made as practical fighting weapons or merely symbols of social status and power, or both.The main source of information regarding the swords found on Gotland comes from the extensive catalogues Die Wikingerzeit Gotlands I-II by Lena Thunmark-Nylén 1996, 1998 and Viking Swords by Fedir Androshchuk 2014. For a deeper understanding of the materials used in sword- and weaponsmithing, information from metalurgically examined specimens presented by Lena Thålin Bergman will be used as cross reference