9 pendants, 3 rings, and innumerable gold pearls dating AD 500 unearthed in southern Norway

At first, the Norwegian man thought his steel detector reacted to chocolate cash buried within the soil. It turned out to be 9 pendants, three rings and 10 gold pearls in what was described because the nation’s gold discover of the century. The uncommon discover was made this summer time by 51-year-old Erlend Bore on the southern island of Rennesoy, close to the town of Stavanger. Bore had purchased his first steel detector earlier this yr to have a pastime after his physician ordered him to get out as an alternative of sitting on the sofa.

Ole Madsen, director on the Archaeological Museum on the University of Stavanger, mentioned that to search out “a lot gold on the similar time is extraordinarily uncommon.”

“That is the gold discover of the century in Norway,” Madsen mentioned.

In August, Bore started strolling across the mountainous island together with his steel detector. A press release issued by the college mentioned he first discovered some scrap, however later uncovered one thing that was “fully unreal” – the treasure weighing slightly greater than 100 grams (3.5 oz).

Beneath Norwegian legislation, objects from earlier than 1537, and cash older than 1650, are thought-about state property and should be handed in.

Affiliate professor Hakon Reiersen with the museum mentioned the gold pendants – flat, skinny, single-sided gold medals known as bracteates – date from round A.D. 500, the so-called Migration Interval in Norway, which runs between 400 and about 550, when there have been widespread migrations in Europe. The pendants and gold pearls have been a part of “a really showy necklace” that had been made by expert jewelers and was worn by society’s strongest, mentioned Reiersen. He added that “in Norway, no related discovery has been made because the nineteenth century, and it’s also a really uncommon discovery in a Scandinavian context.” An professional on such pendants, professor Sigmund Oehrl with the identical museum, mentioned that about 1,000 golden bracteates have to date been present in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

He mentioned symbols on the pendants normally present the Norse god Odin therapeutic the sick horse of his son. On the Rennesoey ones, the horse’s tongue hangs out on the gold pendants, and “its slumped posture and twisted legs present that it’s injured,” Oehrl mentioned.

“The horse image represented sickness and misery, however on the similar time hope for therapeutic and new life,” he added.

The plan is to exhibit the discover on the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, about 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Oslo. (AP)