Routine Yard Work Reveals a Trove of Viking Silver—the Largest Treasure of Its Kind Ever Discovered in Denmark

From Smithsonian Magazine, by Sonja Anderson:

Routine Yard Work Reveals a Trove of Viking Silver—the Largest Treasure of Its Kind Ever Discovered in Denmark

The collection includes coins, jewelry, silver bars and a tiny artifact shaped like Thor’s hammer. Experts say the roughly 700 items were buried during the tenth century.

When a resident of northern Denmark started clearing their backyard, the plan was to install a new terrace. They expected a few hours of hard work. But after half an hour of digging, they came across something metallic: a trove of jewelry and coins.

Located in the municipality of Rebild, the backyard revealed the largest hoard of Viking silver ever discovered in Denmark. According to a statement from North Jutland Museums, the treasure includes roughly 700 artifacts and weighs more than 40 pounds. Experts think these items were buried in the tenth century.

“This is an exceptionally important Viking Age silver hoard,” archaeologist Torben Sarauw, head of cultural heritage at North Jutland Museums, tells the Art Newspaper’s Hadani Ditmars. “It provides a rare insight into the Viking Age silver economy, where silver functioned not only as coinage but also as weighed bullion used for trade, payments and storing wealth.”

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