2 Viking finds in Norway, Sweden

Norwegian archaeologists have found a Viking farmer buried with horse, sword, spear and shield near Trondheim.

The discovery was made last week by researchers from Trondheim.

Preben Ronne of the Science Museum said that the corpse appears to have been cremated before being buried with grave notes.

"It indicates that the man we have found had quite high status. If one can afford to bury the man, slaughter his horse and bury it with the owner and all his possessions, then he was a man of means," Ronne said. "This is a sensational find in local terms. It isn't the Oseberg Ship, but it tells what a local chieftain took with him to his burial."

In Sweden, two brothers found a Viking horde of coins as they worked on a neighbor's property on the island of Gotland.

Edvin Svanborg, 20, who plans to become an archaeologist, told the news agency TT that he knew he and his 17-year-old brother, Arvid, had stumbled on something remarkable when he found an Arab coin more than 1,000 years old. There were also some bracelets with the coins.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International