An astonishing collection of gold and silver jewelry and coins, some of which date back at least 1,000 years, has just gone on display at the Rijksmuseum Van Oudheden (RMO) in Leiden, Netherlands. Lan, Dutch News reported. The priceless treasure trove of precious metals included four pieces of gold jewelry shaped like earrings, two pieces of unmounted gold leaf and 39 small silver coins, all found on the same small plot of land.
The jewelry dates from the first half of the 11th century, but the coins were minted in the 13th century, which means the gold and silver items were certainly buried by a collector of valuable objects. value lived in the 1200s or later.
These gold and silver objects were discovered not by professional archaeologists but by a 27-year-old historian and metal detectorist named Lorenzo Ruijter. In 2021, Mr. Ruijter went on a treasure hunting expedition somewhere near the city of Hoogwoud, North Netherlands, located in the greater West Frisian (Friesland) region in the northwest of the Netherlands. After receiving a series of signals from the detector, he began digging the ground and quickly discovered these extremely rare items.
“It was just golden glitter,” Ruijter recalled in an interview with NH News. “Unbelievable.”
History is made at Hoogwoud
While all of the objects are noteworthy, the ornaments that look like earrings stand out.
“The discovery of the earrings is of international importance,” Annemarieke Willemsen, curator of medieval exhibitions at the RMO, told digital news service NRC. “They show that people in North Holland were connected at their highest level around the year 1,000 and were in an international network with money.”
The four crescent-shaped ornaments are made from 18-carat gold bars. There are mounting brackets attached, which adds to the impression that they are meant to be worn on the body or on clothing.
Carved head of a man with rays of light: Portrait of Christ, ‘Sol Invictus’, Undefeated Sun (© Archeology West-Friesland/ Fleur Schinning )
One of the crescent-shaped decorations was badly damaged, possibly by a farmer plowing the field where the treasure was found. But others are remarkably well preserved, including a clear and unmistakable carving of a man whose head is covered in sunlight.
“It could be Christ, pictured as Sol Invictus, or the invincible sun,” Willemsen speculates.
Two ornaments, one of which was damaged, were decorated with roses, made from thin wires or gold ornaments that had been twisted into a knot shape. The final decoration also has an engraved image, but its content and meaning are unknown.
Although they look like earrings, Willemsen says the ornaments “may not be worn over the ears but on a hat or headband.”
It is a style of jewelry with ornamental (and possibly gold leaf) dating from the 11th century. It has elements common in the northern Netherlands at the time, but also in Germany and other areas of the Holy Roman Empire.
“Hoogwoud’s earrings are special because they are hybrids,” Willemsen explains. “The crescent shape appears in Byzantium, we find the use of this type of carving in the Holy Roman Empire, especially in Germany, and the carvings are typical for Frisia and Scandinavia.”
Reproduction: a woman wearing gold ‘earrings’. (© West-Friesland Archeology/ Fleur Schinning )
The international nature of the ornaments is why Willemsen connected them to the international trade network that passed through the lands of North Holland and West Frisia during the Middle Ages.
In their description of the recently opened display, the RMO Museum notes that gold ornaments are especially rare. Only three similar items have previously been found in excavations in the Netherlands, and none look exactly like the newly discovered items.
As for the two pieces of gold leaf, it seems like they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. Researchers say they were once part of the same headband, wrapped around some kind of fabric hood.
“There are still fibers on the yellow leaf,” Willemsen said.
The 39 small silver coins were mainly minted in three counties in the medieval Netherlands (Guelders, Cleves and Holland), although some came from the neighboring German Empire to the west.
“The youngest was attacked in 1247 or 1248 during the reign of Willem II, Count of the Netherlands and King of the Romans,” said Michiel Bartels, head of West Friesland Archeology.
Fabric fibers were found among the coins, suggesting they were kept inside a cloth bag. The gold and silver items were all found within 5 meters of each other, leading Bartels to conclude that “they were probably buried together and the ornaments were family heirlooms. Someone must have buried the treasure to keep it safe.”
Meet the discoverer who is living the dream
Lorenzo Ruijter is not just an amateur detectorist who got lucky. He is a trained historian who volunteers as an assistant archaeologist for West Friesland Archaeology, and he specifically chose the field at Hoogwoud as a location where fascinating artifacts could be found.
“It’s something you develop over the years,” the young historian said, describing how he chooses where to explore. “I think it was a combination of opportunity, instinct and research.”
Ruijter linked the gold and silver objects he unearthed to the Ottonian period, named after a dynasty of powerful Germanic Saxon kings who ruled the Holy Roman Empire in the West. and Northern Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries.
“Objects from that time are almost non-existent, so in terms of objects they are very special,” he explains.
To protect the sanctity of the site of his discovery, Ruijter refused to reveal its exact location to the media. Even his friends and colleagues have denied this information.
“We saw in Ommeren that a Nazi treasure was [rumoured] to be buried there,” he said, referring to the recent release of a declassified, World War II-era map allegedly revealed the location of a Nazi treasure trove in the Netherlands. “People went there without permission, [digging] holes in the ground. It became a big mess.”
Although the location where the jewelry and coins were unearthed remains a secret, the treasure will no longer be hidden. The Hoogwoud hoard display will remain open at the RMO Museum in Leiden until June 15 and it will then reopen on October 13 as part of a larger exhibition called “The Year 1,000”.
Top image: Hoogwoud’s complete hoard: four gold pendants, two gold leaf pieces, and 39 silver medallions. Source: © Archeology West-Friesland/ Fleur Schinning
By Nathan Falde
