A Family Found Two Viking Bronze Brooches With a Metal Detector

Discoveries of ancient artifacts rarely occur randomly, but it sometimes happens just like that. This certainly was the case for a family in Norway that was looking for a lost earring but managed to find two pieces of ancient jewelry instead.

The bronze brooches looked like they were from the Viking Age. The family was actually using a metal detector to find the lost earring around their home on Jomfruland Island.

A Viking Burial on Jomfruland Island

The discovery happened when the metal detector found something under a big tree. While the family knew there was no way the earring could be there, they were curious enough to start digging. Soon after that, they made a discovery and contacted the local government archaeologists. The specialists determined that the two bronze ornaments were actually brooches.

One of the brooches was bigger with an oval shape. It likely probably served to fasten the straps of a woman’s dress. The other brooch was more circular, and its purpose has not yet been identified. Both artifacts were elaborately engraved and could have been covered in gold in the past. Archaeologists figured that out after finding trace amounts of gold on the items. The engravings featured detailed depictions of animals and geometric patterns.

The Jewels Belonged to a Woman

Everything shows that the jewels belonged to an aristocratic Viking woman who was buried over 1,200 years ago! The significance of this discovery is that it shows that Vikings certainly inhabited the island. Other clues on Jomfruland also showed Viking presence, namely piles of rock called cairns.

The discovery of artifacts and the burial site suggest Vikings once lived on the island. Previously, researchers had found piles of loose rock, known as cairns, on the southwestern part of Jomfruland. They suspected Vikings had made the piles, possibly to stake their claim on the land. But because historical records go back only to the Middle Ages, they couldn’t be sure.

While the brooches look over a millennia-old, they are still in relatively good shape compared to most items found with metal detectors. This is probably because the land in which they were buried wasn’t used for farming. The authorities are unsure about the future of the site. They will first check if there’s a risk of deterioration, and if it is safe, they’ll likely preserve it.