As the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus announced on Monday, 22-year-old Gustav Bruunsgaard found seven rare silver bracelets from the Viking Age. “It is the first time that we have found a treasure of this kind so close to Aarhus, which is both extraordinary and very interesting,” said museum historian Kasper Andersen.
Jewellery from the 9th century
Dating back to the 9th century, the jewelry was also used as a medium of exchange, with each piece of jewelry made to a fixed weight standard. “This allows us to better understand how the Vikings from this part of Scandinavia operated in a global world from West Asia to the North Atlantic,” Andersen said.
One of the bracelets, a spiral, is a piece that is based on Russian or Ukrainian models, while similar pieces have been found in Ireland, Andersen explained.
Bruunsgaard made the discovery in the spring. The 22-year-old first found a bracelet at a location north of Aarhus, the country’s second-largest city, before returning there a few days later and discovering six more bracelets. They are all now on display in the museum.
