Discovery of a Viking silver treasure weighing 18.5 kg in Denmark

The owner, from the Ribild region in northern Denmark, initially thought he had found an old piece of iron or fence wire while weeding, but he soon discovered jewellery, coins and silver bullion buried in the ground.

The exceptional treasure weighs 18.5 kilograms, and contains about 700 pieces and parts dating back to the tenth century AD, which is nearly three times the weight of the previous largest silver treasure in Denmark (6.5 kilograms). The homeowner said that after half an hour of digging, his garden pitchfork hit something that made a strange sound, and when he started digging with his hands, he was able to pull one piece of metal after another from the ground, only to discover that it was jewelry, coins, and silver bullion.

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The treasure was buried in a pottery bowl during the tenth century AD, and about 320 pieces weighing 6.4 kg were still inside the bowl, while the rest was scattered in the surrounding soil. The treasure includes silver bars, bracelets, whole coins and parts thereof, pieces of cut silver, and even a small hammer of “Thor” (the Viking god of thunder). One of the silver ingots also bears a mysterious runic inscription that may mean "hutu", but experts are not sure of its meaning, and believe that it may be a person's name or a royal sign.

Archaeologist Torben Sarau described this discovery as similar to finding a “treasury” from the Viking Age, stressing that it is important for understanding the Viking Age in Denmark, because it shows how silver served as a means of wealth and payment in that era, as the Vikings used silver according to its weight, and cut or melted it as needed for commercial transactions.

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Interestingly, the researchers found that many of the pieces were concentrated in specific weight groups, suggesting that they were deliberately organized as a storehouse of wealth.

Some coins reveal the extent of the Viking trade networks, as the treasure contains Arab and Anglo-Saxon coins, indicating links extending from England in the west to the Islamic world in the east. Among them are two silver coins from the reign of King Edward the Great, who ruled between 899 and 924 AD, providing important evidence of the age of the treasure.

This discovery comes after a series of amazing discoveries in the region. The discoveries confirm North Jutland's links to an extensive Viking Age trade network, but it remains a mystery why someone buried 18.5kg of precious silver more than 1,000 years ago and did not return to retrieve it.