Man Finds Denmark's Largest Viking Age Silver Hoard in His Backyard
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
While building a terrace, a homeowner discovered the treasure of a lifetime: more than 40 pounds (18.5 kilograms) of thousand-year-old silver buried in the ground. An analysis revealed that the finding is the country's largest Viking Age (793 to 1066) silver hoard known to researchers.
Live Science reports that the hoard has approximately 700 silver objects, including silver bars, jewelry, 47 whole coins and coin fragments, and a small Thor's hammer, an object that was often interpreted as a sign of protection and a clue that its owner believed in the Norse pantheon of gods.
About 320 of those objects were contained in a clay vessel, while the rest lay in the soil nearby. The treasure is nearly three times larger than the previous largest silver hoard from Denmark's Viking Age. "The treasure so clearly shows how silver functioned as wealth and a means of payment in the Viking Age," said Torben Sarauw, head of cultural heritage and an archaeologist at the Museums of North Jutland. "It's like finding a safe from the Viking Age."
The discovery only happened because of a private home-improvement project. “It was just supposed to be a couple of hours of hard gardening - clearing away stubborn grass, stones, and gravel for a new paved patio - but it turned out to be the biggest surprise of my life,” the anonymous homeowner said about the find. “After digging for half an hour, my garden fork struck something that made a strange sound. At first, I thought it was old iron, fencing wire, or pottery shards, but when I started digging with my hands, I suddenly found myself pulling one metal object after another out of the ground. After a short while of careful work, I realized they were pieces of jewelry, coins, and silver bars.”
The hoard is now being submitted for assessment at the National Museum of Denmark.
