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4 min read<\/p>\n4 min read<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story:<\/p>\n
A homeowner doing routine yard work uncovered the largest Viking Age silver hoard ever found in Denmark. The 40 pounds of silver includes ingots, jewelry, coins, and hacksilver. Just how the valuable 10th century hoard came to be there is still unknown. <\/p>\n
While working on a new patio for his house in Rebild, Denmark, a man discovered 40 pounds of 10th-century silver lying beneath the soil. What wound up being the country\u2019s largest-ever Viking Age silver hoard<\/a> contained a mix of 700 objects spilling out of a clay pot, including ingots, armbands, cut silver, 47 coins<\/a> and coin fragments, and even a tiny silver pendant in the shape of Thor\u2019s hammer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is like finding a Viking Age safe,\u201d Torben Sarauw, head of cultural heritage and an archaeologist at the Museums of North Jutland, said in a translated statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Roughly half the hoard\u2019s items\u2014about 320 objects weighing 14 pounds\u2014remained inside the clay jug, while the rest had spilled into the ground around it. Combined, the contents of the hoard are almost three times as large as the previous record holder for the biggest Viking Age silver hoard in Denmark. Several of the silver<\/a> ingots are stamped with crosses or Thor\u2019s hammers, which means the hoard was created during a time when Norse paganism and Christianity coexisted, according to museum experts.<\/p>\n The find only happened because of a private home-improvement project. \u201cIt was just supposed to be a couple of hours of hard gardening\u2014clearing away stubborn grass, stones, and gravel for a new paved patio<\/a>\u2014but it turned out to be the biggest surprise of my life,\u201d the anonymous homeowner said about the find. \u201cAfter 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.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the silver bars has an extra clue as to the hoard\u2019s origin: it\u2019s inscribed with runes that form the word hutu, likely an owner\u2019s mark.<\/p>\n While the coins constitute just a fraction of the hoard\u2019s overall weight\u2014ingots, jewelry<\/a>, and hacksilver make up the main haul\u2014they help to date the find. Two Anglo-Saxon<\/a> silver pennies were minted under King Edward the Elder, who reigned from 899 C.E. to 924 C.E., and silver Arab dirhams date to the 10th century. Dirhams were commonly cut into smaller pieces, as they were traded exclusively based on weight and silver quality, as seen in this hoard.<\/p>\n The coins also prove the silver<\/a> came from far and wide. \u201cThat is precisely what makes the find so fascinating,\u201d Sarauw said. \u201cThe silver was hidden in Rebild, yet it points toward a much wider world. The coins reveal connections to the Islamic world in the east and England in the west, as well as a Viking Age in which people, goods, and valuables moved across vast distances.\u201d<\/p>\n The hoard contains an unusually large number of silver ingots, and experts noticed that they fall into distinct weight classes. It\u2019s evidence that Vikings cut, divided, and melted their silver down to precise amounts as each transaction required. The hacksilver and even pieces of jewelry fall into distinct weight classes, too. \u201cThis is a find of great significance for our understanding of the Viking Age<\/a> in Denmark,\u201d Sarauw said. \u201cNot only because of its size, but also because the hoard so clearly demonstrates how silver served as a form of wealth and a means of payment during the Viking Age. When we analyze the weight of the silver objects, the hoard reveals information about Viking Age economic practices.\u201d<\/p>\n The hoard was discovered in what\u2019s now a modern residential neighborhood. Archaeologists can\u2019t say whether the silver was buried there because it was once a Viking settlement<\/a>, near a busy travel route, or simply a place where no one would think to look for a treasure. Because the area\u2019s been so heavily developed, archaeologists may never know for sure.<\/p>\n
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