The Vindelev-hoard or 'guldfundet fra Jelling' ("Jelling gold discovery"), as it was mistakenly called shortly after being found a few kilometres north-east of Jelling, is one of the most important gold hoards in the history of Denmark's Iron Age. Never before had there been found a combination of 4 Roman medallions and 13 bracteates in a single deposit. The hoard was found in December 2020 by a metal-detectorist while walking with a former schoolmate in his field near Vindelev, 8 km north-east of Jelling.[1] Archaeologist Morten Axboe has reckoned the bracteates to be from about 450–500 AD, corresponding to the Germanic Iron Age, and has called the discovery on a par with that of the Gallehus golden horns. It is a world-class archaeological discovery, says Axboe - an expert in the Iron Age and gold bracteates - telling Danish broadcaster DR that on a scale from 1 to 10 this was a 12.
Excavation and Contents
edit_-_en_sammenbukket_brakteat,_som_udgjorde_en_del_af_Vindelev-skatten_(3)_-_udsnit_af_dekorationerne_omkring_%C3%B8skenet.jpg)
_-_en_sammenbukket_brakteat,_som_udgjorde_en_del_af_Vindelev-skatten_(1).jpg)
Over five days at the end of Deecember 2020, 795 grammes of gold were found the with the metal detector at Vindelev, and in August 2021 the site was excavated again by a team from the Vejle Museum, who were able to show that the treasure was situated in a populated area, in which the dwellings could be tentatively carbon-dated to the 6th century. The find consisted of a total of 23 items, including 4 Roman medallions from the 4th century, 13 Germanic or early Scandinavian gold bracteates from the second half of the 5th century, and the mouthpiece of a scabbard from the first half of the 6th century. The medallions were issued by the Roman emperors Constantine the Great(306-337 AD), Constans (337-350 AD) - which is very worn - Valentinian I (364-375 AD) - which has preserved a very fine motif on the reverse - and Gratian (367-383 AD).
The gold bracteates are unusually large, with more than half of them being more than 8 cm in diameter. 5 of the 13 bracteates are of type C, and 8 of type A - among them the world's largest to date, at 13.8 cm, the size of a saucer. This seems to have been folded symmetrically, supporting the contention that this was a deliberate act of ritual destruction, a phenomenon known from e.g. discoveries of Iron Age weapon deposits. The latest object in the hoard is the decorative mouthpiece of a scabbard in the animal style of ornamentation.
Another novelty of the hoard (apart from the largest bracteate found hitherto) is a bracteate called X9, featuring a central figure drinking from a drinking-horn. This is the first time that a bracteate with an image of a drinking-horn has been found.
If - as archaeologists reckoned during the 2021 excavations - these objects were deposited at the same time, the hoard contains "heirlooms" from the 4th century (the Roman medallions), bracteates from the 5th century, and the scabbard-mouthpiece with the animal motifs from the 6th.
Reasons for the Burial of the Hoard
edit
The scabbard mouthpiece provides a date for the burial of the hoard at the beginning of the 6th century, and it can therefore be linked to a significant reduction in climatic temperatures in 536. It has therefore been interpreted as a ritual offering by a clan and its leader or king (who had been in close contact with the Roman Empire for several centuries), as a sacrifice to divine powers for better times. The link between climate deterioration in 536 and burials of gold-hoards is described by Morten Axboe,[2] Bo Gräslund (sv) and Neil Price (sv). However, it is a matter for debate as to whether this gold was an offering to the gods or rather the concealment of wealth in a time of crisis. Deposits of gold from the Age of Migrations have been found in lakes, bogs and in dry ground associated with habitations. This deposit in an ordinary long-house - where there is no indication of a temple or the like - suggests an act as part of private life rather than a public sacrifice resulting from a collective crisis. Apart from the climate deterioration in 536, the contemporary Plague of Justinian in the 540s - which has been shown to have reached northern Europe - may have caused people to preserve their valuables, although the great death-toll meant that many were no longer able to retrieve them.
Since most of the contents of the hoard are items of female jewellery belonging to one or more women and presumably passed down from generation to generation, it is therefore also possible that the person who controlled and deposited the hoard was a woman of high social status, perhaps a queen rather than a king.
Runic Inscriptions on the Bracteates
edit
Among the preliminary interpretations of the runic inscription houaʀ on one of the bracteates (almost identical to the bracteate from Funen BR42) is 'the High One'. However, runologists Henrik Williams and Elmer Antonsen (and others) have argued that the inscription may be horaʀ, 'the Dear One'.
Lisbeth M. Imer og Krister Vasshus from the National Museum of Denmark have interpreted one part of the inscription as the sentence 'He is Óðinn's ma', which, together with the dating of the treasure, means that the god Óðinn was known about 150 years earlier than evidence had previously been able to establish.
Exhibitions
edit
The Vindelev hoard was first displayed in its entirety in an exhibition at the Vejle Museum of Art entitled Power and Gold - Vikings in the East, which ran from April to December 2022.
At the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen the hoard is on show as part of the exhibition The Hunt for Denmark's History, which opened on 4 February 2023 and will run until 4 February 2024.
References
edit- ^ Frederik Guy Hoff Sonne (5 September 2021). "Kæmpe guldskat fra jernalderen fundet nær Jelling". Videnskab.dk (in Danish). Wikidata Q108416918.
- ^ Gert C. Nielsen (1. juli 2007). "»Vi ved ikke, hvad der skete i år 536, men folk har været meget bange.«". Berlingske.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External Links
edit- "Kæmpe guldskat fundet ved Vindelev nær Jelling". ("Huge hoard of gold found at Vindelev near Jelling") Video on Youtube from the Vejle museums, 9. september 2021
- Presentation of the discovery on the Vejle museums' homepage
- Article on the Vejle museums' homepage: "It's not only Size that Matters: Three Bracteates from the Vindelev Hoard"
- Article on the Vejle museums' homepage: "The World's Biggest Bracteate: Who were the Twin-Kings?"
[[Category:Treasure troves]] [[Category:Gold objects]] [[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Denmark]] [[Category:Antiquities from the Scandinavian Iron Age]]