Four Silver Bracelets From The Viking Age Were Found In Norway, Where They Went Untouched For Over 1,000 Years

In southwestern Norway, four silver bracelets from the Viking Age were buried nearly eight inches in the ground. They were located on a mountainside in a village called Årdal.
The bracelets date back to around the ninth century and had lain untouched for over 1,000 years, still in the exact spot where they had originally been buried.
“This is definitely the biggest thing I have experienced in my career,” said Volker Demuth, an archaeologist and project manager with the Archaeological Museum at the University of Stavanger.
They were found in advance of construction work of a new tractor road for a local farmer named Tårn Sigve Schmidt.
Some of the jewelry had twisted designs, so researchers thought they were copper wires at first. Twisted copper wires were commonly found on agricultural lands.
However, further exploration revealed that the artifacts were silver. The site of the bracelets was once a Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066) farm that consisted of numerous houses for people and animals.
The bracelets were unearthed within one of the smaller structures, which likely housed enslaved people.
The “large and powerful” farm showed signs of being burned down, coinciding with a time of great turmoil in the Viking Age.
According to Demuth, the burial of the bracelets makes sense when considering the fact that the people who lived on the farm may have had to flee from an attack.

Paul – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Before escaping into the mountains, they hid their valuables in a place that would not be easy to find.
In addition to the jewelry, the researchers discovered knife blades, whetstones for sharpening tools, soapstone pots, and rivets.
They also noted that Norway did not have any silver mines at that time, so the silver for the bracelets probably arrived from abroad through looting during raids, trade, or as a gift.
“This is a unique find because we very rarely find such objects exactly where they were placed,” said Demuth.
“As a rule, such valuable objects are discovered on fields that have been plowed, where an object has been completely taken out of its original context. Since the silver hoard has not been moved, it can give us completely new insights into life and society in the Viking Age.”
The bracelets are not the only silver jewelry items that have been found in the region. Their design is similar to the silver necklaces that were discovered in Hjelmeland in 1769.
The block of earth that the bracelets were excavated in has been taken to the Archaeological Museum to be X-rayed.
Moving forward, the researchers plan to extract soil samples to learn more about the artifacts, such as whether the bracelets were wrapped in cloth during their burial. If they were, the fabric has since deteriorated after so many years underground.
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