A crusader's sword was sticking out of a pipe trench, leading to the discovery of an entire cemetery

A sword from the Crusader period has been discovered in Salo-Perttel in south-western Finland. The weapon with a cross hilt and a three-sided oval pommel was dated between 1050 and 1150 and is one of the rare discoveries in Finland. Moreover, the discovery of the sword led archaeologists to a previously unknown cemetery from the same period.

The sword was found by a local landowner at the end of August when, after heavy rains, he spotted a piece of iron object protruding from the excavation of a geothermal pipe. After pulling out the almost complete sword, he contacted Juha Ruohonen, professor of archaeology at the University of Turku. He immediately passed the information on to Sanne Saunaluoma, the archaeologist in charge of the Salo area at Turku Museum.

The inspection suggested that the sword might not be the only object in the excavation. Saunaluoma and Ruohonen and a team of students examined the site in early September. They uncovered additional blade fragments, a piece of scabbard, iron objects of an as-yet undetermined nature, and remnants of a leatherbelt decorated with 30 square bronze pendants with rosette patterns and several cross-shaped pendants. The belt also includes a belt buckle, an armlet, decorative animal heads and fittings. The belt originally held a knife, which has not been found, while its leather sheath decorated with bronze rings has survived.

Buried with all these objects were human remains, among which lay pieces of wood, perhaps parts of a coffin. All the material uncovered came from a single burial. The complete belt and the surviving textile fragments are particularly rare. The extended excavation also revealed a larger cemetery. Eight more graves lay in close proximity to the pipe trench, and archaeologists believe there will be at least a dozen, possibly as many as two hundred more graves. This is the first confirmed discovery of a cemetery from this period in the Salonjoki River valley.

According to Ruohonen, the discovery is very significant from a research point of view, as not many burial sites with inhumations from the Crusades are known in Finland. In fact, there are far fewer of them than the fire graves from the earlier Iron Age. The deceased were buried here in accordance with Christian customs: "The location in the immediate vicinity of a medieval stone church may be regarded as evidence of a much older regional church organization than has hitherto been believed. We have assumed that the parish of Pertteli was established with the founding of Uskela Chapel in the 15th century," Ruohonen concluded.

The found objects and bones will be subjected to radiocarbon dating. The belt and knife sheath will be X-rayed, further studied and conserved.

Roman Němec

Sources: yle.fi, thehistoryblog.com

Bronze belt pendant with rosette pattern

grave profile in a pipe trench

Crusader sword