Langeid is a village in
Bygland municipality in
Agder county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. The village is located in the northern part of the municipality, along the river
Otra and the
Norwegian National Road 9, about halfway between the villages of
Tveit
Tveit is a village and surrounding district in Oddernes borough in the city of Kristiansand in Agder county, Norway. The Tveit district is located in the northeastern part of Kristiansand, northeast of the Topdalsfjorden along the lower part of t ...
(in Bygland) and
Besteland (in neighboring
Valle
Valle may refer to:
* Valle (surname)
Geography
*"Valle", the cultural and climatic zone of the dry subtropical Interandean Valles of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina
*University of Valle, a public university in Cali, Colombia ...
).
Archaeology
In 2011, during road construction on Highway 9, an elaborately decorated
Viking sword was excavated. The sword is decorated with gold-leaf and silver thread. The weapon appears to feature both ancient runic symbols as well as Latin characters and Christian symbols. Archaeologists have yet to decipher the meaning of the mixed characters. The sword was found buried next to a battle axe and several ancient silver coins.
The sword likely belonged to a wealthy Viking who was both a farmer and a warrior who sailed to the British Isles with King
Cnut the Great
Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norwa ...
. The finding prompted further archaeological study in Langeid, as it may have been a wealthy Viking-era town involved in ironwork weapons production.
References
Villages in Agder
Bygland
{{Agder-geo-stub