‘spectacular’ Viking Age silver treasure discovered in Denmark
An archaeology student in Denmark has unearthed a “spectacular silver treasure” from the Viking Age, shedding more light on early Scandinavian trade and economy
Gustav Bruunsgaard, 22, from Aarhus University found seven silver bracelets while walking with a metal detector in a field near Elsted, where previous excavations had found traces of Viking Age settlements.
The treasure, weighing over half a kilogram, has been dated to the 9th century and may have represented “significant value” during the early Viking Age between 793AD to 1066AD in Scandinavia, experts said.
The bracelets may have been produced in southern Scandinavia, possibly Denmark, archaeologists said, adding that they formed part of a common weight system that allowed individual rings to be used as a means of payment.
One of the bangles has a coiled ring structure that originally came from Russia, while three band-shaped stamped bracelets seem to have inspired bangle designs that became popular in Ireland.
Three other bracelets uncovered have smooth designs which are rare but “known from Scandinavia and England”, researchers said.
The bangles are a “spectacular silver treasure”, according to the Moesgaard Museum, where it is now kept, showing that Aarhus was an international trade hub in the Viking Age with links to Russia, Ukraine and the British Isles.
“The Elsted farm treasure is a fantastically interesting find from the Viking Age, which connects Aarhus with Russia and Ukraine in the east and the British Isles in the west,” historian Kasper Andersen said in a statement.
“In this way, the find emphasises how Aarhus was a central hub in the Viking world, which went all the way from the North Atlantic to Asia.”
Silver jewellery and other artefacts unearthed in Scandinavian countries, including Denmark and Norway, have helped trace the trade routes between Europe and the rest of the world from the Viking Age.
Archaeologists have previously shown that the Viking Age, specifically the time between 750AD and 1000AD, saw some of the “most spectacular” episodes of pre-modern global connectivity.
This was a time when there were trade links established between the burgeoning Islamic empire in the Middle East and virtually all corners of Afro-Eurasia.
A previous study of a silver ring found in Sweden and dating to 850AD suggested there was likely close contact between Scandinavians and the Islamic world during the Viking Age.
The silver ring with violet-coloured glass, first unearthed in the 1800s, carried an inscription “for Allah” or “to Allah” in an ancient Arabic script.
The ring may “constitute material evidence for direct interactions between Viking Age Scandinavia and the Islamic world”, researchers wrote in the 2015 study.
See more here independent.co.uk
Header image: Moesgaard Museum
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
I find it interesting how excited so seemme archaeologists rightly become when it seems some of them seem to ignore that which is written in the book titled THE HOLY BIBLE which begins with the translated words “In the beginning”.
Have a good day
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
Back on August 6, 2016 John O’Sullivan posted this article (https://principia-scientific.com/ancestors-tracing-history-scientific-method/) about Stonehenge for me. And even then no one made a comment about the article. Was it so poorly written that no one could understand it? And I have yet to have anyone to tell me how to divide a circle into 7ths with good, ut not perfect, precision.
Have a good day
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S.C.
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To divide a circle in to 7 approximately equal pieces, first draw the circle, then cut a guide stick or string to approximately 9/10 of the radius. Then mark a start point and, lay one end of the guide there and position it so the other end falls exactly on the circles edge and mark that. From there, mark another point in the same manner until you reach , and slightly surpass the first point. Trim the guide a tad and repeat until you reach the desired tolerance.
Of course, I used my knowledge of math to arrive at 0.9 radii, or more precisely, 0.8976, but the same result could be achieved through trial and error if a clever enough person with no training in math or trigonometry worked out the method.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi S.C.,
Sorry, GEOMETRY, the first mathematics, will get you there much faster with good precision, but not perfect precision; as explained vy Newton in his book. Which I discovered by trial and error.
Have a good day
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