A 6-Year-Old Boy on a Class Field Trip Found a 1,300-Year-Old Viking Sword

“We are super proud of the children who managed to see the sword in the field," the Cultural Heritage in Innlandet, Norway said

NEED TO KNOW

• A Norwegian child made a historic discovery on a field trip
• A first grader named Henrik found a 1,300-year-old Viking sword while with his classmates
• The ancient artifact will be preserved at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo

A young child in Norway made a magnificent discovery while on a recent field trip.

In early May, the Cultural Heritage in Innlandet announced via Facebook that a 6-year-old named Henrik discovered what turned out to be a Viking sword that was approximately 1,300 years old.

Henrik was with his first grade class as the Fredheim School students traveled to Brandbu in the Gran municipality when he found “an incredibly well preserved sword” popping out of the ground.

“The sword is what we call ‘negget’. That means that it’s only sharp on one side,” the organization said in text translated from Norwegian to English. 

Officials believe the artifact dates back to the Merovingian era or the beginning of the Viking era, circa 481–751.

“We are super proud of the children who managed to see the sword in the field. It was well done! And we're very happy that they did everything right: They called an archaeologist in Innlandet fylkeskommune and told about what they had found,” the post continued.

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The area the sword was found in translates to "Land of the Warrior" in Norwegian, the BBC reported, adding that many important discoveries have been made there throughout the years.

PEOPLE reached out to the Museum of Cultural History (Kulturhistorisk Museum) in Oslo, where the sword will be cleaned and preserved, but did not immediately receive a response.

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