“King Sigurd Syr was on his field when the messengers came to him and told him this news (that Olaf was coming) and all the doings of Ásta at the bœr. He had many men there; some cut corn, others tied it (into sheaves), others drove corn home, others stowed it in hay-houses or barns. He, and two men with him, walked sometimes on the field, sometimes where the corn was stacked” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 31).
Fig. 1315.—Plough of oak wood. Length, 9 feet. Found in Döstrup, Jutland.
Fig. 1316.—Shears. ⅓ real size.—Ultuna. Earlier iron age.
Fig. 1317.—Sickle, ⅓ real size, found in a tumulus on burnt bones in an urn.—Norway. Earlier iron age.
Fig. 1318.—Sickle, ⅓ real size, found in a tumulus on burnt bones and charcoal, with fragments of a bone comb and a needle of iron.—Norway. Earlier iron age.
The Sagas often mention people possessing sheep, and shears are often found. The one here represented was in the Ultuna ship’s find, and had been placed with weapons and other objects belonging to the warrior, who probably owned great estates and large flocks of sheep.