COPENHAGEN, Denmark. What began as a quest for a new hobby led to the extraordinary discovery of a 1,500-year-old gold necklace by a Norwegian man using a metal detector. Erlend Bore, a 51-year-old resident, stumbled upon a treasure trove of nine pendants, three rings, and ten gold pearls, believed to have been part of opulent jewelry worn centuries ago.
This remarkable find occurred during the summer on the southern island of Rennesoey, near the city of Stavanger. Mr. Bore, motivated to explore a new pastime after a doctor’s recommendation to get active, purchased his first metal detector earlier this year.
Ole Madsen, the director of the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger, expressed the uniqueness of the discovery, stating that finding “so much gold at the same time is extremely unusual.”
In August, Mr. Bore embarked on a metal-detecting adventure across the mountainous island. Initially encountering some scrap items, he then made a discovery that surpassed his wildest expectations—a cache of treasure weighing slightly over 100 grams (3.5 oz).
Under Norwegian law, objects dating from before 1537, along with coins predating 1650, are considered state property and must be reported.
Associate Professor Håkon Reiersen, affiliated with the museum, disclosed that the gold pendants, known as bracteates, are estimated to date back to around A.D. 500, during the Migration Period in Norway, spanning from 400 to approximately 550 when significant migrations occurred across Europe.
These pendants, along with the gold pearls, once formed “a very showy necklace” crafted by skilled artisans, worn by the society’s elite, according to Reiersen. He emphasized that “no similar discovery has been made in Norway since the 19th century, making it an exceptionally rare find in a Scandinavian context.”
Professor Sigmund Oehrl, an expert on such pendants from the same museum, revealed that approximately 1,000 golden bracteates have been found in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He noted that the symbols on these pendants typically depict the Norse god Odin healing his son’s ailing horse. However, on the Rennesoey pendants, the horse’s depiction includes a protruding tongue and a posture indicative of injury, signifying “illness and distress but also hope for healing and new life.”
The plan is to showcase this extraordinary discovery at the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, located approximately 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Oslo.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
