Eight-year-old girl finds 1,500-year-old iron age sword in Swedish lake

An eight-year-old girl has found an iron age sword in a lake in Sweden.

The ancient artefact, which could be up to 1,500 years old, was discovered in Vidöstern lake in the south of the country this summer.

It was in about half a metre of water close to a bathing spot, Jönköping County Museum said.

It is 85cm long and "exceptionally well preserved", the museum added.

The girl, named by local media as Saga Vanecek, said she had been "throwing sticks and stones and stuff to see how far they skip".

She explained: "Then I found some kind of stick.

"I picked it up and was going to drop it back in the water, but it had a handle, and I saw that it was a little bit pointy at the end and all rusty.

"I held it up in the air and I said 'Daddy, I found a sword!'

"When he saw it was bent and was rusty, he came running up and took it."

The family contacted archaeologist Annie Rosén at the museum, who found the sword "remarkable and very interesting".

Wood and leather had been used to help preserve it.

When the site was investigated last month, further finds were made, including a fibula, or brooch, from a similar period.

Mikael Nordström, from the museum, said the area was "perhaps a place of sacrifice", adding: "At first we thought it could be graves situated nearby the lake, but we don't think that any more."

Preparing the sword for conservation will take a long time, he said, partly because wood and leather are involved.