Erlend Bore, a 51-year-old hobbyist treasure hunter, just pulled off the biggest gold treasure find in Norway’s history this century. This happened while he was sweeping his brand new metal detector back and forth on Rennesøy, a private island on the country’s southwestern coast. He sure didn’t set out thinking he was going to hit the jackpot!
With the permission of the property’s owner, Erlend started his expedition. He wasn’t optimistic, but figured he’d give it shot anyway. And, lo and behold, he sets his detector off – jackpot! At first, all he unearthed was an old chocolate bar wrapper. Pretty dull. But then his eyes landed on an unusual clump in the earth.
When he dug out the find, he ended up with nine gold pendants, all adorned with rare symbols, three gold rings, and ten gold pearls. Talk about hitting the mother lode – this summer is one he’s never going to forget!
Bore couldn’t believe his eyes when he found himself handling a literal pot of gold, as he shared with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), a government-affiliated radio and TV outlet in Norway.
“There were tons of tiny golden beads. It was crucial to not miss a single one,” he mentioned casually.
Shocked and amazed, he mentioned that the whole experience felt completely surreal. He immediately looped in the authorities, who confirmed the golden treasure’s weight to be approximately 3.5 ounces or roughly 100 grams, according to the official statement.
“This has got to be the gold discovery of the century for Norway,” Ole Madsen, the Museum of Archaeology Director at the University of Stavanger excitingly said in a statement.
“Finding this much gold at one go is absolutely unique,” he add on a light note.
Museum experts figured out that the flat, gold pendants are from around A.D. 500. That’s during the Migration Period (you might know it as the Barbarian invasions). Yep, there were no Roman emperors running western Europe at the time. You’d be forgiven for mistaking these pendants for gold coins, but they’re actually decorative “bracteates”.
Fun fact from Norway’s Cultural Heritage Act – if you stumble upon a treasure, you’ll earn yourself a finder’s fee. And here’s the deal – it’s split 50/50 between you and the landowner. Cool!
[sourcelink link=”https://nypost.com/2023/09/07/man-walking-with-metal-detector-finds-cache-of-gold-jewelry-dating-back-to-500-ad-find-of-the-century/”]
