An ancient ring discovered in Sweden is evidence of contact between Vikings and Muslims, researchers have said.

Swedish archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe discovered a grave of a woman in Birka, a historic trading center in what is now Sweden. The woman died in the 9th century. A surprising thing about the grave was that the woman wore very unique a ring.

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The ring, discovered during archaeological diggings in the Viking-era trading capital of Birka between 1872 and 1895, includes a pink-violet stone and the inscription in Arabic Kufic writing. The artifact was unearthed along with other pieces of jewelry, clothing ornaments and remains of clothes.

In addition, an inscription was written in the Kufic Arabic script widely used between the 8th and 10th centuries. The inscription read "For Allah".

It is the only Viking Age ring with Arabic inscription ever found. It's still not clear how the woman go the ring, but the woman war found wearing a typical Scandinavian dress so it's been assumed the ring would have had arrived through trade.

Sebastian Warmlander, a biophysicist from Stockholm University, and his team conducted a study to figure out how rare the ring was. Researchers used a scanning electron microscope to uncover the origins of the ring. They found the stone in the ring was actually colored glass.

"Our analysis shows that the studied ring consists of a high-quality (94.5 percent) non-gilded silver alloy, set with a stone of colored soda-lime glass with an Arabic inscription reading some version of the word Allah," the scientists stated.

The ring's soda-lime glass, which was previously believed to be amethyst, was not necessarily inferior in value at the time, scientists attested.

The ring displayed a remarkable lack of wear, which led the researchers to consider it had a few owners in-between its creator and its Viking owner.

"It is not impossible that the woman herself, or someone close to her, might have visited -- or even originate from -- the Caliphate or its surrounding regions," said the researchers.

The study was published in the journal, Scanning.

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