In mid-October Reijo Hyvönen, a member of a regional history association in the Häme region (known as Kanta-Hämeen menneisyyden etsijät), received a message and a photograph from a couple of landowners he knows in Janakkala, just south of Hämeenlinna, who said they had found a sword.
"They asked what to do now, after finding a complete sword while working in the forest. Of course I got excited. I asked if I could come and see the sword and visit the discovery site to see if there might be something else there," Hyvönen told Yle.
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More items from the Viking Age
Hyvönen recognised right away that that the find was a Viking-era sword. A quick survey at the site also revealed a Viking-period spearhead and an axehead. The Viking Age in the region is often considered as falling between 780 and 1050 AD. He estimated that the sword would probably be from 1000-1100 AD.
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Hyvönen contacted an archaeologist he knew at the Finnish Heritage Agency. A couple of days later, he agreed with Antti Krapu, the agency's archaeologist in charge of the Häme region, to visit the site where the artifacts were found. A Heritage Agency test excavation team investigated the area on 26 October.
"They dug four test pits and they found a number of fine Viking-era objects," said Hyvönen. Among those items was a tortoise brooch, a series bracelet, a spiral ring, a chain, burnt bone and ceramics.
Extensive cremation grave field
Hyvönen and the excavation team were thrilled by the discovery. Based on the preliminary survey, the finds are part of a large cremation grave field. It indicates that around 1,000 years ago there was a large settlement and a lot of activity in present-day Janakkala.
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"There are probably not many such extensive areas in the region, where there are this many artifacts, at least based on the metal detector signals," said Hyvönen.
The site of the discovery has, however, been partially disturbed by past forestry operations.
The area of the finds has now been demarcated as a protected site, but there are apparently no plans to conduct further research at present due to the limited resources of the Finnish Heritage Agency.
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Prosperity and defence
In the autumn of 2013, a warrior's grave was found in Janakkala, perhaps unique for including not only a spearhead and axe, but also two very different swords - one dating to the Viking Era and one typical of the period of the Crusades. This burial was dated to around the year 1300.
Swords were a high-status item and are an indication that the area was a prosperous one during the Iron Age. In addition, it tells us something about Häme's warlike past, said Hyvönen.
"An ordinary warrior's weapons were usually spears or axes. These swords show that here there was a readiness to defend their territory. Outsiders would not have had an easy time. They were willing to fight to protect their home ground."