"Golden Discovery of the Century": Huge Treasure Unearthed in Norway
An amateur archaeologist in Norway has unearthed what experts are calling the largest gold treasure of this century.
According to Live Science, Erlend Bore, a 51-year-old Norwegian, discovered a treasure comprising nine pendants with "rare" gold symbols, three gold rings, and ten gold pearls during an exploration of Rennesoy, a private island off the country's southwest coast.
During the expedition, which was approved by the private landowner, Bore didn't expect to find much. However, his recently acquired metal detector began beeping as he passed it back and forth over the ground. Quick digging revealed an old wrapper from a chocolate bar. But then he noticed a lump protruding from the dirt.
"I sat there with a gold treasure in my hand," Bore said. "There were lots of small gold pearls. It was important to get everything and not lose anything."
He said that his discovery was "completely unreal" and immediately contacted the authorities, who confirmed that the gold treasure weighed approximately 3.5 ounces (100 grams).
"This is a golden discovery of the century in Norway," said Ole Madsen, the director of the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger. "Finding so much gold at once is extremely unusual."
Experts from the museum determined that the flat gold pendants date back to around 500 A.D., during the Migration Period (also known as the Barbarian Invasions), when the Roman Empire no longer ruled Western Europe. Although the pendants may resemble gold coins, they are actually called "bracteates" and were used as ornaments.
Norwegian Cultural Heritage Law stipulates that anyone who discovers a treasure will receive a finder's fee, which is to be evenly distributed between the landowner and the finder.
As reported by The Gaze, inspectors exploring caves in the Israeli Dead Sea region in search of artifacts recently found a rare half-shekel coin dating to 66 or 67 A.D., from the first year of the Jewish revolt against the Romans. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that during the four-year rebellion, this currency played a significant role in the underground Jewish economy.
The coin was engraved with the words "Holy Jerusalem" in ancient Hebrew script rather than the local Greek language of the time.