(Kitco News) – It could just be beginner’s luck, but an amateur Norwegian metal detectorist is celebrating his good fortune after unearthing what could be the country’s largest ancient gold find in more than a century.
Last week, the University of Stavanger’s Archaeological Museum announced the discovery of a cache of nearly 100 grams of gold objects dating back more than 1,500 years on the island of Rennesøy in southwest Norway.
“This is the gold find of the century in Norway. To find so much gold at the same time is extremely unusual,” said Ole Madsen, director of the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger, in the press release, which was translated from Norwegian.
The gold hoard was discovered by Erlend Bore from Sola. According to the museum, the 51-year-old bought his metal detector a year ago and sees it mainly as a hobby to get out of the house.
Bore had spent much of the day searching the beach at Rennesøy and said he hadn’t had much luck, so he moved to higher ground. He added that at first he didn’t know what he had found.”At first I thought I had found chocolate money or Captain Sabertooth coins. It was completely surreal,” said Bore.
Although the gold discs looked like ancient coins, the museum said they were actually jewellery. The gold pendants are known as “bracteaters”, and the museum said they were not used to buy or sell goods, but as decoration.
Håkon Reiersen, associate professor at the museum, said the jewellery dates back to around 500 AD. Round gold beads were also found with the bracteaters.”The nine bracteates and gold beads form a very striking necklace. It was made by skilled jewellers and worn by the most powerful people in society. It is very rare to find so many bracteates together. No similar find has been made in Norway since the 19th century, and it is also very unusual in a Scandinavian context,” says Reiersen.According to the museum, the motif on the gold discs also makes this a unique find. The bracteaters show designs of a horse.
The museum explained that traditionally the symbols on the pendants usually show the god Odin healing the sick horse of his son Balder. However, these gold discs only show the design of the horse.
“None of the archaeologists at Rogaland County Council have ever experienced anything like this, and it is difficult to describe the excitement when we saw them,” said Marianne Enoksen, head of cultural heritage at Rogaland County Council.
According to Norwegian law, all objects found before 1537 and coins older than 1650 are considered state property and must be reported and handed over to the authorities.
However, the Cultural Heritage Act states that finders of loose cultural property can receive a finder’s fee, which must be shared equally between the landowner and the finder. The museum has not yet determined the value of the objects found by Bore.
