discovered

A morning walk through the popular Dalsnuten hiking area near Sandnes in southwestern Norway turned into a moment of history when a local hiker noticed something glinting beneath a fallen tree. Poking at a mound of earth with a stick, he uncovered a richly decorated gold fitting from a sword scabbard — an artifact some 1,500 years old. Archaeologists from the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger have since confirmed it as one of only 17 such objects ever found in all of Northern Europe, and the first of its kind ever discovered in Rogaland. "You are completely caught off guard when finds like this come in," said archaeologist and associate professor Håkon Reiersen of the University of