Large Viking Age Gold Treasure Discovered In Denmark

A team of amateur archaeologists called ‘Team Rainbow Power’ has recently found seven bracelets (six of gold and one of silver) dating back to the Viking Age in a field from Vejen Municipality in southern Jutland, region of Syddanmark (southern Denmark). All bracelets date back to roughly 900 AD. This is the largest Viking treasure ever to be found in Denmark. The combined weight of these seven artefacts amounts to as much as 900 grams, making this discovery the largest Viking Age gold treasure unearthed thus far in Denmark.

The three amateur archaeologists from ‘Team Rainbow Power’ were Poul Nørgaard Pedersen, Marie Aagaard Larsen and Kristen Dreiøe. Team member Marie Aagaard Larsen stated the fact that she had been on the field for about 10 minutes before eventually discovering gold. The team initially found three Viking Age rings, but they subsequently asked for professional help on behalf of Lars Grundvad from Sønderskov Museum who was very surprised by the discovery.

Of the seven bracelets discovered, two pertained to the Jelling Viking Age style, specific for the ruling class in the Norse society. It is likely that these two bracelets were given by a Norse nobleman as either tokens of gratitude to his followers or as gifts in order to forge local alliances, according to Peter Pentz, an expert on the Viking Age at the National Museum of Denmark based in Copenhagen.

Peter Pentz also stated that the site may be further analysed in order to find out where the artefacts actually stemmed from and why they were buried down there.

The Sønderskov Museum plans to make an exhibition of the seven bracelets discovered on the archaeological site from the Vejen Municipality before they will be eventually sent to the National Museum in Copenhagen in order to be subsequently analysed.

Documentation sources and external links:

• Largest-ever Viking gold collection found in Denmark on wwww.thelocal.dk
• Bracelets dubbed Denmark’s largest Viking-era gold find on www.washingtonpost.com
• Vejen Municipality on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
• Viking Gold Hoard at the End of the Rainbow on www.medievalhistories.com
• Amatørarkæologer finder Danmarks største guldskat fra vikingetiden on www.mynewsdesk.com (in Danish)
• Sensationeller Fund aus der Wikingerzeit auf einem Feld bei Vejen: fast ein Kilogramm Gold on www.nordschleswiger.dk (in German)
• Amateur archaeologists find historic Viking treasure on www.cphpost.dk
• Viking Gold Hoard Discovered in Denmark on www.viking-archaeology-blog.blogspot.dk
• The official website of the Sønderskov Museum on www.sonderskov.dk (in Danish, English and German)