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Archaeologists in Norway have chance on aViking Agetreasure that had remain " untasted " for more than 1,000 years .
The four silver bracelets had been buried nearly 8 inches ( 20 cm ) in the priming on a mountainside in Årdal , a village in southwestern Norway , harmonize to a translated statement from theUniversity of Stavanger .
At first archaeologists thought they had unearthed copper wire, but in reality, they found four Viking Age silver bracelets.
" This is unquestionably the magnanimous affair I have feel in my career,“Volker Demuth , an archeologist and labor manager at the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger , said in the argument .
archeologist incur the bracelet forwards of construction of a unexampled tractor route . Because some of the 9th - century jewelry had twisted excogitation , researchers initially believe they had unearthed copper color wires in the dirt .
" At first I think it was a question of some misrepresented copper wires that you’re able to often find in agricultural land , but [ then ] I encounter that there were several lying next to each other and that they were not copper at all , but silver,“Ola Tengesdal Lygre , a staff applied scientist at the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger , said in the financial statement . " I realized that we had find something exciting . "
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Further exploration revealed that the location once domiciliate a " large and powerful " Viking Age ( A.D. 793 to 1066 ) farm constitute multiple house for people and animals , according to the statement . The research worker found the buried bracelets within one of the smaller structures , which likely housed enslaved individuals .
" This is a unique discovery , because we very seldom regain such aim precisely where they were place , " Demuth enunciate . " As a ruler , such worthful objects are detect on fields that have been plow , where an aim has been completely taken out of its original context . Since the ash grey stash has not been moved , it can give us altogether new sixth sense into life and society in the Viking Age . "
In addition to the jewelry , investigator name an array of artifact , including steatite pots , rivet , knife blade and whetstones for sharpening putz . There ’s also evidence that the farm had been burned down , which " coincide with a time period of great unrest in the Viking Age , " according to the statement .
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" If people who lived on this farm had to fly from an attack , it would be natural to hide away the valuable you had before escaping to the mountains , " Demuth said . " And perhaps in a lieu where you would not have cerebrate that a hoarded wealth was hidden . "
The researchers observe that Norway did n’t have silvery mines at that time , so the silver for the watch bracelet belike come from abroad , potential through business deal , gift or looting . However , they ’re not the only silver jewelry find oneself in this region ; the bracelets ' design resembles that of silver necklaces found in Hjelmeland in 1769 , according to the statement .
The block of solid ground surrounding the bangles has been X - ray at the Archaeological Museum . Next , the researcher be after to take soil samples to discover , for case , whether the bracelets were wrapped in fabric during burial .
