Histria antiqua, Vol. 21 No. 21, 2012.
Original scientific paper
A Recently Recovered Sword at Koljani Near Vrlika Seen in the Light of Contacts With Nordic Countries in the Early Middle Ages
Ante MILOŠEVIĆ
; Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika, 21000 Split, Hrvatska
Abstract
In the past ten years, several interesting examples of weapons and military equipment have been found in the
valley of the River Cetina. Taken as a whole, they display morphological and typological characteristics observed in
relevant finds from the early Carolingian period. We are talking here about accidentally recovered finds: a winged
iron spearhead and a bronze spur recovered from the riverbed of Cetina at Trilj, and a sword with a silver belt fitting
recovered at Koljani which is the third such find from this small area near Vrlika in the Dalmatian hinterland. We
can assume that the sword belonged to the inventory of a grave. The grave itself has not yet been investigated, because
its site is currently at the bottom of the artificial lake of the “Peruča” hydroelectric power plant.
According to the most frequently used classification, that of J. Petersen, the recently recovered sword from
Koljani belongs to the K-type group. So far, there have been thirteen examples belonging to this group recovered in
Croatia and the neighbouring early medieval Sclaviniae. The usual interpretation is that they are an early Carolingian
legacy, or more precisely, weapons imported from workshops located in the Rhine basin at the very time that
Croatians were under the influence of or in some sort of alliance with Charlemagne’s empire.
The recently recovered sword from Koljani offers a subject for debate that adds to the simplified archaeological
and historical picture that has been firmly etched for decades. This is so because, taking into consideration the
workmanship, it could be linked with examples originating from Nordic (Viking) armouries. How such a product
could have arrived in the Central Adriatic hinterland in the early medieval period is a particularly interesting question.
One of the possible answers is that it was the result of trade to which the Vikings might have contributed. At
the time, the Vikings, with their long and fast ships (which also sailed the large rivers of the Euro-Asian mainland),
covered vast areas starting from Scandinavia and Greenland in the north west to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
in the south east. Another possibility, which seems to have more historical foundation, is that such a sword possibly
arrived in the area of what is now the Dalmatian hinterland at the time the Croatians arrived, at the end of the 8th
century AD. How the sword might have arrived was explained in a very successful exhibition “The Croatians and
the Carolingians”, that drew on written historical sources, some ten years ago.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
104338
URI
Publication date:
1.8.2012.
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