SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN, GERMANY—A metal detectorist discovered an 800-year-old hoard of gold jewelry and silver coins in northern Germany, in the region of the Viking trade center of Hedeby, and reported the find to the State Archaeology Department of Schleswig-Holstein (ALSH), according to a Live Science report. Ulf Ickerodt of the ALSH said that the hoard, which was excavated by archaeologists, includes two Byzantine-style gold earrings set with semiprecious stones, a gilded brooch made to look like an Islamic coin, two gilded rings set with stones, a ring fragment, a perforated disc that had been gilded, a ring brooch, and 30 silver coins minted during the reign of Danish king Valdemar II, between 1202 and 1241. The items in the hoard may have been stolen, meant to have been delivered to someone, buried for ritual reasons, or hidden during a crisis some 200 years after the Vikings abandoned their town, Ickerodt explained. “An extensive north-south and east-west trade network has developed here since the early Middle Ages, in which the Mediterranean region, the North Sea, and the Baltic Sea were integrated,” he added. “The hoard was certainly not put down by chance.” To read about a cache of ancient weapons uncovered in western Germany, go to “A Twisted Hoard.”
