A beautifully preserved chisel-bladed arrowhead, forged around one thousand years ago.

 

While both the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings used arrowheads of this type, the tang suggests it has a continental provenance (as British arrowheads were socketed) and is likely to be Viking.

 

The Vikings were essentially warrior-farmers and many of their weapons were indistinguishable from domestic tools or hunting implements (e.g., the Viking aesc, a heavy thrusting spear, was identical to the Scandinavian boar spear). In this sense, it isn't possible to say whether the arrowhead had a domestic or military purpose.

 

But whatever its original use, it remains a timeless treasure.