Bent Swords from Norwegian Graves in the Viking Period. Steven Blowney September, 2022 Introducon In my last work (1), I presented an inhumaon grave with a bent sword. The grave was from Gotland, and my interpretaon of it was that the people who buried the deceased were hosle. However, not only was the sword bent mulple mes, but the bones of the deceased were a jumble, as if the body had been broken up. It was this combinaon of a jumble of bones and a bent sword that led me to a conclusion of hoslity towards the deceased. But a couple of people commented that the phenomenon of a bent sword in a grave was a sacrifice. The bending of the sword was, metaphorically speaking, killing it. These comments made me queson why swords were bent. I felt it was me to take a closer look. This work is the result. Norway has the most swords dated to the Viking Period, which is why I chose it (2). Hanne Louise Aannestad discussed bent swords and other weapons from Norway in her arcle "Charisma, Violence, and Weapons. The Broken Swords of the Vikings" (3). The author examined 1598 swords found in Oslo University's Museum. Aannestad concludes that bent swords, occasionally with bent spears and smashed shields, were a tradionally common funeral pracce. The intenonal damaging of these weapons was part of a burial sacrifice. Aannestad’s arcle is interesng, but I wanted more detail. With this in mind, I decided to upon a two part method: quantave informaon and qualitave informaon. Quantave informaon I took from the Oslo Museum’s online database. Qualitave informaon was derived from what Norwegian Archaeological Dig Reports and other similar informaon I could find. I also used informaon from the cemeteries discovered at Kaupang. Quantave Informaon: the Oslo University Museum's Database.