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1500-year-old gold treasure discovered by metal detectorist: “This is the gold find of the century in Norway”
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One of the three rings that were found in Rennesøy. | Ten gold beads like this one are part of the Rennesøy treasure. |
An incredible find
“This is an incredibly amazing find,” Dagfinn Skre says to sciencenorway.no. Skre is a Professor of archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. He has not been involved in the work around the gold treasure but spoke to sciencenorway.no about the significance of the find.
“It’s very rare to find so many bracteates of exactly the same kind in one place,” he says.
Finds often consist of a collection of bracteates with different motifs, but in this case, all nine bracteats depict the same thing.
Bracteates are flat and thin gold pendants that are stamped on one side.
“A thin sheet of gold is pressed down on a bronze stamp, so that a motif is impressed on it,” Skre explains.
The coin-like medallions could have different motifs, for instance animals such as boars or the Norse god Odin.
One example is a large gold treasure unearthed in Denmark in 2020 called the Vindelev treasure. The treasure consists of among other things bracteates that depict a male figure that could be Odin. Runic inscriptions here mention the name of Odin for the first time.
One of the bracteates found in Denmark in the Vindelev treasure. This bracteate depics the Norse god Odin. (Photo: Oleryhlolsson/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Around 1000 bracteates have been discovered in Scandinavia, but the ones found in Rennesøy are of a rare sort, according to Sigmund Oehrl, Professor at the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger and expert on bracteates and their symbolism.
“The motif is different than other gold pendants found up until now,” the Professor says in the press release.
The usual image on these round gold plates shows the god Odin healing his son Balder’s sick horse. According to Oehrl, this myth was viewed as a symbol of renewal and resurrection during the age of migration. It was believed to give its bearer protection and good health.
The Rennesøy-bracteates however, merely show a horse.
A close-up of one of the bracteates from Rennesøy in Stavanger. This one depicts a horse with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, according to the archaeologists. It is around two centimeters wide. (Photo: Museum of Archaeology/UiS)
“In these gold pendants, the horse’s tongue is hanging out, and it’s slumping posture and the twisted legs show that it is hurt. Just as with the Christian symbol of the cross which was becoming widespread in the Roman Empire at the time, this horse symbol represented disease and distress, but at the same time also hope of healing and new life,” Oehrl says.
Gifts bestowed by the ruling kings?
Dagfinn Skre argues that the bracteates that are found in Scandinavia are similar to medallions that were stamped in the Roman Empire during the 4th century.
They are known from several sites in Norway and Denmark.
“In the mid-400s, Scandinavians started making bracteates themselves, that were quite clearly inspired by Roman medallions,” Skre says.
But what do these gold medallions represent? Skre explains that there are many theories regarding what the bracteates might be.
Skre believes they might have been gifts that local kings bestowed on their most trusted men. That way, the bracteates might have functioned as a sort of badge of honour showcasing who the king trusted the most around the country.
“Those who wore these sorts of things were likely powerful people. But it might be more complex than that. These objects were not important as items of value, but rather as something that showed your allegiance to a king,” Skre says.
He places the bracteates in the context of archaeological finds in Denmark. The first local bracteates were perhaps stamped in Fyn in Denmark, where the first kingdom in Scandinavia may have been established, according to Skre.
Referring to the Vindelev treasure again, where 13 bracteates with different motifs were found, he suggests that generations of families might have built collections of bracteates after being loyal to certain kings.
Erlend Bore shows off the 'gold find of the century' in Norway which he found with his brand new metal detector. (Photo: Museum of Archaeology/UiS)
The right thing to do
In addition to the bracteates, Erlend Bore found ten gold beads and three gold rings. In total, the find has a weight of 100 grams of gold.
“It was completely unreal”, the 51-year-old says.
When he found the treasure, Bore did exactly what he was supposed to do: he marked the spot, stopped searching, and contacted Rogaland county municipality.
"We're very happy that he did the right thing", says archaeologist Reiersen. "It allowed us to go to the site and gather more information about what kind of a place this treasure had been deposited in," he says.
More images of the treasure and the site where it was found can be seen in the video below (words in Norwegian)
Journalist i NRK. NRK. Trondheim, Trøndelag fylke, Norge. 63 følgere 63 forbindelser. Se felles forbindelser ...
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