Metal detector expert discovers spectacular treasure
A university student in Denmark has unearthed “treasure Spectacular silver” includes Viking-era jewelry that functioned as money.
Gustav Bruunsgaard, a metal detector expert and archaeology student at Aarhus University, was exploring farmland near Elsted, a town north of Aarhus, when his metal detector started beeping. As he dug into the ground, he discovered a silver ring A few days later, he returned to the field, which was home to a Viking Age settlement, and dug up six more bracelets, according to a translated statement from the Moesgaard Museum in Højbjerg.
Bruunsgaard informed officials about the discovery and experts dated the objects to the 800s, which is the early period of the Viking Age (793 to 1066 AD) in Scandinavia.
“The Elsted Farm Treasure is an incredibly exciting find from the Viking Age, which connects Aarhus to Russia and Ukraine to the east and the British Isles to the west,” Kasper H. Andersen, a historian at the museum, said in a statement. “In this way, the discovery emphasizes that Aarhus was a center in the Viking world, stretching from the North Atlantic to Asia.”
These bracelets were a form of money known as hacksilver, an important form of currency during the Viking Age. At some point, bracelets weighing more than 1 pound (0.5 kg) would have been “adjusted to a common weight system” and used “as a means of payment and trade” and to demonstrate “the financial capacity of the owner,” according to the statement.
These accessories were probably made in Denmark. However, one “coil ring” looks like a bracelet style from Russia or Ukraine and was “imitated in Northern Europe”. Three “banded, accented rings” inspired similar bracelets in Ireland, “where they became very popular”.
Silver Treasure currently on display at the Moesgaard Museum.