Spectacular Jewelry Discovered at Viking Farm in Denmark

News July 24, 2013

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(Ole Kastholm/Roskilde Museum)

ZEALAND, DENMARK—Several pieces of jewelry have been discovered at a modest Viking-era farm site on Denmark’s largest island. Known as Vestervang, the site is located some six miles away from Lejre, the royal seat of the first Danish dynasty, the Scyldings. Archaeologist Ole Thirup Kastholm of the Roskilde Museum thinks that the jewelry may have originated with a ruler from Lejre, or from his retainers, who may have lived in the area. “This would explain the extraordinary character of the stray finds contrasting with the somewhat ordinary traces of settlement,” he said.

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