Guerriero del Bronzo, Tomba Intatta.

Bronze Age warrior tomb

 unearthed in SW Greece 





ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Breakingnews, Europe, Greece, Southern Europe 





On the floor of the grave lay the skeleton of an adult male, stretched out on his back. Weapons lay to his left, and jewelry to his right. 

This gold ring with a Cretan bull-jumping scene was one of four solid-gold rings  found in the tomb. This number is more than found with any other single burial  elsewhere in Greece 

[Credit: University of Cincinnati, Pylos Excavations] 

Near the head and chest was a bronze sword, its ivory hilt covered in gold. 
A gold-hilted dagger lay beneath it. Still more weapons were found by the man's legs and feet. Gold cups rested on his chest and stomach, and near his neck was a perfectly preserved gold necklace with two pendants. 
By his right side and spread around his head were over one thousand beads of carnelian, amethyst, jasper, agate and gold. 
Nearby were four gold rings, and silver cups as well as bronze bowls, cups, jugs and basins.

Dagger with a gold hilt overlaid with gold in a rare technique imitating embroidery [Credit: University of Cincinnati, Pylos Excavations]

The above describes what a University of Cincinnati-led international research team found this summer when excavating what was initially thought to be a Bronze Age house. Instead, the team made a rich and rare discovery of an intact, Bronze Age warrior's tomb dating back to about 1500 B.C., and that discovery is featured in The New York Times, in an article titled: A Warrior's Grave at Pylos, Greece, Could Be a Gateway to Civilizations. 

One of six ivory combs found within the warrior's tomb 

[Credit: University of Cincinnati,  Pylos Excavations]

 The find is so extraordinary that UC's Shari Stocker, senior research associate in the Department of Classics, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, states: "This previously unopened shaft grave of a wealthy Mycenaean warrior, dating back 3,500 years, is one of the most magnificent displays of prehistoric wealth discovered in mainland Greece in the past 65 years." 
Stocker co-leads the team that unearthed the undisturbed shaft tomb, along with Jack Davis, UC's Carl W. Blegen Chair in Greek Archaeology. 
Other team members include UC faculty, staff specialists and students, some of whom have worked in the area around the present-day city of Pylos on the southwest coast of Greece for the last quarter century as part of the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project. 
That UC-based effort is dedicated to uncovering the pre-history and history of the Bronze Age center known as the Palace of Nestor, an extensive complex and a site linked to Homeric legend. 
Though the palace was destroyed by fire sometime around 1200 B.C., it is nevertheless the best-preserved Bronze Age palace on the Greek mainland. 
It was UC archaeologist Carl Blegen, along with Konstantinos Kourouniotis, director of the National Archaeological Museum, who initially uncovered the remains of the famed Palace of Nestor in an olive grove in 1939. 
Located near the present-day city of Pylos, the palace was a destination in Homer's "Odyssey," where sacrifices were said to be offered on its beaches. 
The king who ruled at the Palace of Nestor controlled a vast territory that was divided into more than 20 districts with capital towns and numerous small settlements. 

This unique necklace measures more than 30-inches long and features two gold pendants  decorated with ivy leaves. It was found near the neck of the warrior's skeleton  

[Credit: University of Cincinnati, Pylos Excavations]

 Explains Stocker, "This latest find is not the grave of the legendary King Nestor, who headed a contingent of Greek forces at Troy in Homer's 'Iliad.' Nor is it the grave of his father, Neleus. 
This find may be even more important because the warrior pre-dates the time of Nestor and Neleus by, perhaps, 200 or 300 years. 
That means he was likely an important figure at a time when this part of Greece was being indelibly shaped by close contact with Crete, Europe's first advanced civilization." 
Thus, the tomb may have held a powerful warrior or king -- or even a trader or a raider -- who died at about 30 to 35 years of age but who helped to lay the foundations of the Mycenaean culture that later flourished in the region. Davis speculates, "Whoever he was, he seems to have been celebrated for his trading or fighting in nearby island of Crete and for his appreciation of the more-sophisticated and delicate are of the Minoan civilization (found on Crete), with which he was buried." 
Potential Wealth of Information The team found the tomb while working in the area of the Palace of Nestor, seeking clues as to how the palace and its rulers came to control an area encompassing all of modern Messenia in western Greece and supporting more than 50,000 inhabitants during the Bronze Age. 

The golden necklace of the grave at Ano Englianos 

[Credit: University of Cincinnati,  Pylos Excavations]

 Davis says that researchers were there to try and figure out how the Palace of Nestor became a center of power and when this rise in power began, questions they now think the tomb may help answer. 
Given the magnitude of this find, it may be necessary to rethink when Plyos and the wider area around it began to flourish. It may have been earlier than previously thought since, somehow, whether via trade or force (e.g., raiding), its inhabitants had acquired the valuable objects found within the tomb. 
Many of the tomb's objects were made in nearby Crete and show a strong Minoan style and technique unknown in mainland Greece in the 15th century BC. 

Finds from the grave at Ano Englianos 

[Credit: University of Cincinnati,  Pylos Excavations]

 The same would likely have been true of the warrior's dwelling during this lifetime. 
He would have lived on the hilltop citadel of nearby Englianos at a time when great mansions were first being built with walls of cut-stone blocks (vs. uncut rock and stones) in the style then associated with nearby Mediterranean Island of Crete and its Minoan culture, their walls decorated with paintings influenced by earlier Minoan wall paintings. The weapons of bronze found within the tomb included a meter-long slashing sword with an ivory handle covered with gold. 

Wealth of Jewels and Weaponry 

A remarkable store of riches was deposited in the tomb with the warrior at the time of his death. The mere fact that the vessels in the tomb are of metal (vs. ceramic pottery) is a strong indication of his great wealth. 

The team of Jack L. Davis and Sharon R. Stocker, from the University of Cincinatti  has brought to light this unlooted and extremely wealthy tomb  

[Credit: University of Cincinnati, Pylos Excavations]

 "It is truly amazing that no ceramic vessels were included among the grave gifts. 
All the cups, pitchers and basins we found were of metal: bronze, silver and gold. 
He clearly could afford to hold regular pots of ceramic in disdain," according to Stocker. 

This member of the elite was accompanied in the afterlife by about 50 seal-stones carved with intricate Minoan designs of goddesses as well as depictions of bulls and human bull jumpers soaring over their horns. 
Four gold rings in the tomb contain fine Minoan carvings. 
A plaque of carved ivory with a representation of a griffon with huge wings lay between the man's legs. 
Nearby was a bronze mirror with an ivory handle. 
Archaeological conservator Alexandros Zokos was essential partner in the removal, cleaning and preservation of the finds from the grave. 
The weapons of bronze within the tomb include a meter-long slashing sword with an ivory handle, several daggers, a spearhead, along with the already-mentioned sword and dagger with gold pommels. 

View of the excavation 

[Credit: University of Cincinnati,  Pylos Excavations]

 Other grave gifts originally rested above the dead warrior atop a coffin of wood which later collapsed, spilling a crushing load of objects down on the skeleton -- and making the job of excavation difficult and slow. 

Sharon Stocker standing in the excavated tomb

 [Credit: University of Cincinnati,  Pylos Excavations]

The gifts atop the coffin included bronze jugs; a large, bronze basin; thin bands of bronze, probably from the warrior's suit of body armor; many wild boar's teeth from the warrior's helmet.
 In combination with this weaponry, the discovery of so much jewelry with a male burial challenges the commonly held belief that these apparently "feminine" adornments and offerings accompanied only wealthy women to the hereafter.

Previously Unexplored Field 

What would eventually become the successful excavation of the tomb began on the team's very first day of its field work in May 2015, conducted in a previously unexplored field near the Palace of Nestor. 
They immediately found one of the four walls of the warrior's grave.

This is one of more than four dozen seal stones with intricate Minoan designs  found in the tomb. Long-horned bulls and, sometimes, human bull jumpers  soaring over their horns are a common motif in Minoan designs   

[Credit: University of Cincinnati, Pylos Excavations]

 "We put a trench in this one spot because three stones were visible on the surface," says Davis, adding, "At first, we expected to find the remains of a house. 
We expected that this was the corner of a room of a house, but quickly realized that it was 
the tops of the walls of a stone-lined grave shaft."

In the end, the shaft measured about 5 feet deep, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. 
It took the team about two weeks to clear the shaft before "we hit bronze," says Stocker. At that point, they realized they might have an exceptional prize: an undisturbed grave shaft, never stripped by looters. 
She explains, "The fact that we had not encountered any objects for almost a meter indicated that whatever was at the bottom had been sealed for a long time." Stocker and Alison Fields, a UC graduate student of classics, did most of the actual excavation because their smaller size allowed them to work more easily and carefully around the tomb and its many precious objects.

What Comes Next 

Both Stocker and Davis say it was good luck to discover this intact grave. Given the rarity of the find, it's unlikely to be repeated. "It's almost as if the occupant wants his story to be told," Davis says. 

A bronze mirror with an ivory handle 

[Credit: University of Cincinnati,  Pylos Excavations]

 And that story will continue to unfold. 

The UC team and others are studying the artifacts in detail, with all artifacts remaining in Greece and their final disposition determined by the Greek Archaeological Service. 

Former UC anthropologist Lynne Schepartz, now of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, will study the skeletal remains. 

The skeleton of an adult male stretched out on his back lay in the grave with  weapons arranged to his left and a hoard of fine jewellery on his right  

[Credit: Denitsa Nonova]

Catalogue of Objects Found Within the Warrior Tomb

- Gold 
Four complete solid-gold seal rings to be worn on a human finger. 
This number is more than found with any single burial elsewhere in Greece. 
Two squashed gold cups and a silver cup with a gold rim 
One unique necklace of square box-shaped golden wires, more than 30 inches long with two gold pendants decorated with ivy leaves. 
Numerous gold beads, all in perfect condition.

- Silver 
Six silver cups.

- Bronze 
One three-foot long sword, with an ivory hilt overlaid with gold in a rare technique imitating embroidery (found at warrior's left chest). 
Under this sword was a smaller dagger with a gold hilt employing the same technique. Other bronze weapons by his legs and feet. 
Bronze cups, bowls, amphora, jugs and a basin, some with gold, some with silver trim.

- Seal Stones 
More than 50 seal stones, with intricate carvings in Minoan style showing goddesses, altars, reeds, lions and bulls, some with bull-jumpers soaring over the bull's horns -- all in Minoan style and probably made in Crete.

- Ivory 
Several pieces of carved ivory, one with a griffon with large wings and another depicting a lion attacking a griffon. Six decorated ivory combs.

- Precious Stone Beads 
An astonishing hoard of over 1000 beads, most with drill holes for stringing together. 
The beads are of carnelian, amethyst, jasper and agate. Some beads appear to be decorations from a burial shroud of woven fabric, suggested by several square inches of cross woven threads which survived in the grave for 3,500 years. 



Source: University of Cincinnati [October 26, 2015]

Culinaria a Durrington Walls

The culinary habits 

of the 

Stonehenge builders 

ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Breakingnews, Europe, UK, Western Europe 


A team of archaeologists at the University of York have revealed new insights into cuisine choices and eating habits at Durrington Walls -- a Late Neolithic monument and settlement site thought to be the residence for the builders of nearby Stonehenge during the 25th century BC. 

Stonehenge

 [Credit: WikiCommons] 

Together with researchers at the University of Sheffield, detailed analysis of pottery and animal bones has uncovered evidence of organised feasts featuring barbeque-style roasting, and an unexpected pattern in how foods were distributed and shared across the site.

 Chemically analysing food residues remaining on several hundred fragments of pottery, the York team found differences in the way pots were used. Pots deposited in residential areas were found to be used for cooking animal products including pork, beef and dairy, whereas pottery from the ceremonial spaces was used predominantly for dairy. Such spatial patterning could mean that milk, yoghurts and cheeses were perceived as fairly exclusive foods only consumed by a select few, or that milk products -- today often regarded as a symbol of purity -- were used in public ceremonies. 

Unusually, there was very little evidence of plant food preparation at any part of the site. The main evidence points to mass animal consumption, particularly of pigs. Further analysis of animal bones, conducted at the University of Sheffield, found that many pigs were killed before reaching their maximum weight. 
This is strong evidence of planned autumn and winter slaughtering and feasting-like consumption. The main methods of cooking meat are thought to be boiling and roasting in pots probably around indoor hearths, and larger barbeque-style roasting outdoors -- the latter evidenced by distinctive burn patterns on animal bones. 

A reconstruction drawing of how the prehistoric village of Durrington Walls  might have looked in 2500BC 

[Credit: English Heritage] 

Bones from all parts of the animal skeleton were found, indicating that livestock was walked to the site rather than introduced as joints of meat.
 Isotopic analysis indicates that cattle originated from many different locations, some far away from the site. This is significant as it would require orchestration of a large number of volunteers likely drawn from far and wide. 
The observed patterns of feasting do not fit with a slave-based society where labour was forced and coerced, as some have suggested. 
Dr Oliver Craig, Reader in Archaeological Science at the University of York and lead author on the paper, said: "Evidence of food-sharing and activity-zoning at Durrington Walls shows a greater degree of culinary organisation than was expected for this period of British prehistory. The inhabitants and many visitors to this site possessed a shared understanding of how foods should be prepared, consumed and disposed. This, together with evidence of feasting, suggests Durrington Walls was a well-organised working community." 
Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Professor at University College London and Director of the Feeding Stonehenge project who also led the excavations at Durrington Walls, said: "This new research has given us a fantastic insight into the organisation of large-scale feasting among the people who built Stonehenge. Animals were brought from all over Britain to be barbecued and cooked in open-air mass gatherings and also to be eaten in more privately organized meals within the many houses at Durrington Walls. The special placing of milk pots at the larger ceremonial buildings reveals that certain products had a ritual significance beyond that of nutrition alone. The sharing of food had religious as well as social connotations for promoting unity among Britain's scattered farming communities in prehistory. " 
Dr Lisa-Marie Shillito, who analysed the pottery samples and recently joined Newcastle University, added: "The combination of pottery analysis with the study of animal bones is really effective, and shows how these different types of evidence can be brought together to provide a detailed picture of food and cuisine in the past." 

The study has been published in the Antiquity Journal. 


Source: University of York [October 12, 2015]

CRANNOG

C'è tutto: il "wattle and daub", i pali costituenti una costruzione circolare (in realtà una specie di palafitta fortificata), una datazione al radiocarbonio di 5.000 anni fa ed un'ipotesi ricostruttiva degli edifici suddetti (abbastanza rari)  e della società del Neolitico che li costruì con strumenti di pietra, ovviamente. 
Chissà poi perché non parlano di Sciardana....

5,000-year-old fort found in Monmouth 

ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Breakingnews, Europe, UK, Western Europe 

Archaeologists in Monmouth have discovered the remains of an ancient wooden building that dates back 5,000 years. 

An artist impression of what the fort looked like nearly 5,000 years ago  

[Credit: Monmouth Archaeological Society] 

Steve Clarke, who two years ago uncovered the remains of a huge post-glacial lake at the Parc Glyndwr building site, said the timber remains found under the new Rockfield estate were once part of a crannog, an ancient fortified dwelling built into a lake. 

Part of the wooden building set into the bed of what was once Monmouth’s prehistoric lake, pre-dates the only other known crannog in England and Wales by 2,000 years. 

The New Stone Age timber (Neolithic), which was skilfully worked with a stone axe, was unearthed during the digging of house foundations at Jordan Way off Watery Lane by Martin Tuck of the Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust in 2003 while overseeing the construction of the estate. 
It was preserved beneath the clay and peat of a lagoon which formed when the lake drained some 2,000 years ago and was recently given to Monmouth Archaeological Society whose professional wing- Monmouth Archaeology- is to be the archaeological unit covering the construction of 450 new homes on Wonastow Road. 

A slab of timber was discovered when the estate was constructed in 2003  [Credit: Monmouth Archaeological Society] 

The timber was sent to the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre in Glasgow for a radiocarbon study to be carried out which produced a date of 2,917 years BC.

The study took several months and was funded by the Monmouth Society. Mr Clarke, 72, who is the chairman and founding member of Monmouth Archaeological Society, said it is a very important and exciting discovery. 
“This is only the second one in England and Wales, the other being at Llangorse Lake, near Brecon.” 
“The timber, bearing cut marks left by stone or flint axes, formed the end of an oak post which had been carefully levelled to create a flat surface which would probably have rested on a post pad set in the bottom of the lake.” 

A reconstructed crannog at Llangorse Lake, Wales 

 [Credit: Monmouth Archaeological Society] 

“Archaeologists are excited, not only by the state and date of the timber, but also because the remains were so far out from the shore of the lake that the post has to be part of a building set on poles- called a crannog.” 

Crannogs are defended wooden structures found in Ireland and Scotland and date from the Stone Age onwards. 
They are thought to have been a mark of power and status- the one at Llangorse being claimed as a royal residence of the Dark Age King of Brycheiniog. 
“Martin realised the importance of the timber and kept it in water before handing it to us for our archives,” said Mr Clarke. 

Author: Kath Skellon | Source: Free Press

 [July 22, 2015]

La Spada (Magica) Vichinga

The last Viking and his 'magical' sword? 

ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Breakingnews, Europe, Northern Europe, Norway 


Have you held the sword? 
Have you felt its weight? Have you felt how sharp and strong the blade is? 

Langeidsverdet helfigur 

[Credit: Ellen C. Holthe, Museum  of Cultural History, University of Oslo] 

A deadly weapon and symbol of power -- jewellery for a man, with magical properties. 
The sword gave power to the warrior, but the warrior's strength could also be transferred to the sword. 
That is how they were bound together: man and weapon, warrior and sword. 
This sword was found in Langeid in Bygland in Setesdal in 2011. It is a truly unique sword from the late Viking Age, embellished with gold, inscriptions and other ornamentation. 

The discovery of the sword has not been published until now, when it is being displayed for the first time in the exhibition 'Take It Personally' at the Historical Museum in Oslo. The sword must have belonged to a wealthy man in the late Viking Age. 
But who was he and what magic inscriptions are set into the decoration -- in gold? Was the owner of the sword in the Danish King Canute's army when it attacked England in 1014-15?

 "We just gaped" 
In the summer of 2011, archaeologists from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo discovered a Viking burial ground in Langeid in Setesdal in southern Norway. 
In one of the graves they made a startling discovery. "Even before we began the excavation of this grave, I realised it was something quite special. 
The grave was so big and looked different from the other 20 graves in the burial ground. In each of the four corners of the grave there were post holes," said excavation leader Camilla Cecilie Wenn of the Museum of Cultural History. 
The post holes reveal that there was a roof over the grave, which is a sign that the grave had a prominent place in the burial ground. 
But when they dug down in the coffin in the bottom of the grave, there were few traces of gifts for the afterlife, only two small 
fragments of silver coins. The coins were from northern Europe; one was probably from the German Viking Age, judging by how it was embossed, while the other was a penny minted under Ethelred II in England dating from the period 978-1016. "But when we went on digging outside the coffin, our eyes really popped. Along both sides, something metal appeared, but it was hard to see what it was. 
Suddenly a lump of earth fell to one side so that the object became clearer. Our pulses raced when we realised it was the hilt of a sword! And on the other side of the coffin, the metal turned out to be a big battle-axe. 
Although the weapons were covered in rust when we found them, we realised straight away that they were special and unusual. Were they put there to protect the dead person from enemies, or to display power?" 
Dating of charcoal from one of the post holes shows that the grave is from around the year 1030, at the very end of the Viking Age. "And that fits in well with the discovery of the English coin." 

The sword 
The sword must have belonged to a wealthy man who lived in the late Viking Age. The sword is 94 cm long; although the iron blade has rusted, the handle is well preserved. 
It is wrapped with silver thread and the hilt and pommel at the top are covered in silver with details in gold, edged with a copper alloy thread," said project leader Zanette Glørstad. 

Langeidsverdet helfigur 

[Credit: Ellen C. Holthe, Museum  of Cultural History, University of Oslo] 

"When we examined the sword more closely, we also found remnants of wood and leather on the blade. They must be remains from a sheath to put the sword in," explained curator Vegard Vike. 
He has had the challenging task of cleaning up the handle and preserving the sword. The sword is decorated with large spirals, various combinations of letters and cross-like ornaments. 
The letters are probably Latin, but what the letter combinations meant is still a mystery. "At the top of the pommel, we can also clearly see a picture of a hand holding a cross. That's unique and we don't know of any similar findings on other swords from the Viking Age. Both the hand and the letters indicate that the sword was deliberately decorated with Christian symbolism. 
But how did such a sword end up in a pagan burial ground in Norway? The design of the sword, the symbols and the precious metal used all make it perfectly clear that this was a magnificent treasure, probably produced abroad and brought back to Norway by a very prominent man," added Camilla Cecilie Weenn. "The way swords are referred to in the sagas suggests that the sword is an important bearer of the identity of the warrior. 
A sword reveals the warrior's social status, his position of power and his strength. 
The sagas also tell us that gold had a special symbolic value in Norse society. In Norse literature gold represented power and potency. 
Gold is rarely found in archaeological material from Viking Period and then too, it stood for power and potency. 
This indicates that gold had considerable economic and symbolic value. Based on the descriptions in the literature, we can say that the sword was the male jewellery par excellence of the Viking Age," said Hanne Lovise Aannestad, the author of a recent article on ornate swords from the days of the Vikings. 

'Magic' 
The sagas emphasise the importance of the ornate sword. Swords could have hilts of gold with ornamentation and magical runes. 
The mythical sagas tell of magical swords forged by dwarfs. 
The creation of myths around the art of the blacksmith and the making of high-quality swords may be related to the fact that few people mastered the art. 
The production of metal objects of high quality may have been a form of hidden knowledge unavailable to most people. 
This gave the objects a magical aura. 
"In Mediaeval literature, swords are referred to as aesthetic, powerful and magical objects. The many similarities between the descriptions of swords in Norse and Mediaeval literature suggest that the splendour of the sword in the latter had roots in the Viking notions of the symbolic power, magic and ritual aspects of the ornate sword. The Viking Age was a period of great social upheaval. At times like that, certain symbolic objects may play an important role in negotiating social positions. There is much to suggest that these magnificent swords were such objects, reflecting the status and power of the warrior and his clan," said Hanne Lovise.

The battle-axe 
The axe found in the same grave has no gold decoration. But the shaft is coated with brass and it may well have flashed like gold when the sun shone. Such shaft coatings are very rare in Norway. But a number of similar battle-axes have been found in the River Thames in London. That makes the axe particularly interesting. 
Dating of the axe from Langeid shows that it belongs to the same period as the axes found in the Thames. 
There was a long series of battles along the Thames in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. 
The Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Canute led their armies against the English king in the battle for the English throne. 
Even the Norwegian king Olav (Haraldsson) the Holy was involved in the attack on London in 1009. 
The men under the Danish King were from all over Scandinavia. 
Did the axes get lost in the Thames during the numerous skirmishes, or did the victors throw them in the river? Did the sword belong to a Viking from King Canute's army? Further down the Setesdal Valley we find a runic stone, which says: "Arnstein raised this stone in memory of Bjor his son. He found death when Canute "went after" England. God is 
one." (Translated from the Old Norse).

The text probably refers to King Canute's attacks on England in 1013-14. 
It is likely that the stone was erected just after the incursions, by a father whose son never came back home. 
A written source from the 12th century states that King Canute's closest army had to meet certain requirements. 
Soldiers had to honour the king, had to belong to the leading families in society and also had to provide their own gilded axes and sword hilts. 
The Langeid sword would no doubt have been approved by King Canute, probably also the axe. 
The sword was made outside Norway and an Anglo-Saxon origin is quite possible. 
The axe is very similar to those found in the Thames, especially in its brass coating. 
The grave with the sword also contained the only coin found in Langeid from the Anglo-Saxon region, which increases the possibility that the dead man had a particular connection to the events in England. 
"It's quite possible that the dead man was one of King Canute's hand-picked men for the battles with King Ethelred of England. Seen in connection with the runic stone further down the valley, it is tempting to suggest that it is Bjor himself who was brought home and buried here. 
Another possibility is that his father Arnstein only got his son's magnificent weapons back and that, precisely for that reason, he decided to erect a runic stone for his son as a substitute for a grave. 
When Arnstein himself died, his son's glorious weapons were laid in his grave.
 The death of his son must have been very tough on an old man. Perhaps their relatives honoured both Arnstein and Bjor by letting Arnstein be buried with the weapons with such a heroic history," said Zanette Glørstad. The runic stone dates from the same period as the final phase of the burial ground and testifies that Christianity is about to take root in Norwegian society. 
It is the oldest runic stone in Norway that refers to Christianity. 
Could this also explain why the weapons were placed outside the coffin? In a transitional period, people may have chosen to use both pagan and Christian elements in a funeral. 
The Langeid grave is from one of the last pagan funerals we know of from Norway and marks both the greatness and the end of the Viking Age.

"Take it personally" 
Ever since the summer of 2011, the sword found in Langeid has been unpublished. Its display today has been made possible by the meticulous work and research of conservators and archaeologists at the Museum of Cultural History. 
Finally, it can be seen by the public and is displayed in the exhibition called "Take it personally" -- an exhibition of personal jewellery and adornment over time and space in the Historical Museum in Oslo.

Source: University of Museum of Cultural History Oslo [July 14, 2015]