admin Museum curators in the Netherlands believe a series of 800-year-old gold jewelry and silver coins discovered by metal detectors was buried in a medieval swamp to save it in wartime.
A metal detector in the Netherlands has discovered glittering gold and silver treasures buried in a medieval swamp 800 years ago, possibly during wartime.
The treasure includes four gold pendants, two gold leaf bands and 39 silver coins.
A historian came across the riches in 2021 while searching with a metal detector in the small town north of Hoogwoud in the West Friesland region. Today, archaeologists from the National Museum of Antiquities of the Netherlands (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) have dated the treasure from the Middle Ages. Museum experts said in a statement that the lavish jewels could have belonged to a medieval rich and powerful figure.
Treasure excavator Lorenzo Ruijter told Live Science: “Gold jewelry like this belonged only to the highest social class, so it could have belonged to someone rich and powerful, even someone who was rich and powerful. possibly the Countess of the Netherlands.”
The forged silver coins come in a variety of designs, some locally produced in the early 13th century and some bearing the imprint of the Holy Roman Empire, Ruijter said. The most recent piece dates from the late 1240s, coinciding with a time of war that may explain why the owners buried these precious possessions.
Ruijter said: “The most recent piece is dated to 1247 or 1248, very close to the many battles between independent farmers who farmed the marshlands in the Free State of West Friesland, and many earls The Netherlands has claimed this land. “In a time of constant conflict and war like this, you’ll want to protect your property and your money. In the Middle Ages there were no banks, so what did you do? You bury it in the ground.”
Ruijter said archaeologists at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities are still investigating the gold coins to determine when and where they were made, but the carvings on them are typical of the Friesland region. Ruijter said.
Annemarieke Willemsen, curator of medieval collections at the National Museum of Antiquities in the Netherlands, told Live Science: “We are dealing with objects belonging to the highest ranks of society, could be a king or an earl. “Unfortunately, we don’t know their value because we have nothing to compare them to – nor do we know if they have any sentimental value. It’s hard to know how many of these objects existed at the time because gold is a highly recyclable material and anything that isn’t buried will be melted down many times over.”
That’s why an “authentic medieval treasure” like this is a “very, very rare” find, notes Ruijter. “I was shaking with excitement,” he said, describing the moment he unearthed the first gold and silver coins. “I can’t believe it after all these years of searching. It’s unbelievable to find something as important as this.”
