On the Jutland Peninsula, an amateur archaeologist discovered the largest treasure of gold objects in the history of Denmark of the 6th century. The treasure consists of 22 beautifully preserved gold objects with a total weight of 945 grams.
According to the Vejlemuseerne Museum, the gold items were found by Ole Jinnerup Schitz, who, with a new metal detector, explored a corn field near the town of Jelling in 2020.
“Only a member of society who achieved absolute power could accumulate such a great treasure. Apparently, long before the Kingdom of Denmark emerged in the following centuries, an unknown ruler lived here,” explains the archaeologist of the Vejlemuseerne Museum Mads Ravn.
Scientists suggest that the burial of the treasure is associated with a climatic disaster, when in 536 Scandinavia was covered with ash from volcanic precipitation. The result was the sharpest drop in mean annual temperature in the Northern Hemisphere over the past two thousand years. Therefore, golden objects were donated to the gods for the Sun to revive.
The artifacts are under restoration and will be displayed at the National Museum of Denmark in 2022.
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The town of Jelling on the Jutland Peninsula is considered the birthplace of the Danish statehood. It is known for two runestones that have survived from the Middle Ages.
On the first, small, which appeared around 950, there is an inscription about the first monarch of the country: "King Gorm made a memorial stone in honor of Tyra, his wife, the sovereign of Denmark." Two burial mounds and two runestones, together with the church at the burial site, are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.