Metal detector enthusiast finds Viking silver in a field

While walking with a metal detector this spring, 22-year-old archeology student Gustav Bruunsgaard discovered a trove of silver dating back to the Viking Age. The sparkling find has links to the British Isles, Ukraine and Russia.

According to one translated statement from the Moesgaard Museum in Højbjerg, Denmark, the student from Denmark’s Aarhus University was walking in a field in Elsted, north of Aarhus. When the metal detector beeped loudly, Bruunsgaard grabbed a small shovel, revealing a small silver bracelet. A few days later he returned to the spot and found six more bracelets. Assessment by both Danish and international experts found that they date back to the early Viking age (about 793 to 1066 CE), shortly after the founding of the Viking age city Aarhus or Aros. Experts believe that it was made in southern Scandinavia, probably Denmark.

[Related: Even Vikings had to pay fines.]

Vikings had a fairly complex economic system. Recently, a new interpretation of an inscription on the Swedish Forsa ring gave economic historians new insights into the way money and debts were handled at that time. Today, some of these hefty amounts can reach $9,610, but it is not clear what violation the fines apply to.

During the Viking Age, silver, like the rings uncovered at Elsted, was a measure of value. The metal was a way to make payments and a type of collateral that demonstrated an owner’s financial resources. The total of seven bracelets that Bruunsgaard found weighed just over a pound and archaeological experts estimate that they would have had considerable value.

The rolled ring is a type of silver originally came from present-day Russia or Ukraine which was imitated in the Scandinavian countries. The three band-shaped, stamped rings are a type of southern Scandinavian design that inspired the bracelets in present-day Ireland, where they became very common. The three smooth bracelets are a rare form of jewelry, but have been found in Scandinavia and England.

[Related: Vikings filed their teeth to cope with pain.]

“The Elsted farm treasure is a fantastically interesting Viking Age find, connecting Aarhus with Russia and Ukraine to the east and the British Isles to the west,” Moesgaard Museum historian Kasper H. Andersen said in a statement. “In this way, the find highlights how Aarhus was a central hub in the Viking world, which stretched all the way from the North Atlantic to Asia.”

Visitors to the Moesgaard Museum can now see the silver on display.