A young Norwegian woman was looking for jewelry online earlier this week when she purchased a jumbled collection of jewelry at an online auction. Upon receiving the goods, she discovered a heavy, roughly made gold ring, which turned out to be a rare artifact from the Viking Age!
Luckily, Heskestad gave the Viking ring to the authorities!
Dating from the Late Iron Age (AD 400 to 800), the size and weight of the Viking ring’s strap (11 grams or 0.4 ounces) suggest it was worn by a man. whom archaeologists speculate was most likely a powerful Viking leader. The process of identifying the ring was quick because the woman who bought it, Mari Ingelin Heskestad, immediately contacted the archaeological team in Vestland county after her father said it could be an ancient ring.
Heskestad said “it’s really heavy and shiny, it looks very special” in an interview with local Norwegian newspaper Bergensavisen, BA.
The ring is owned by a Norwegian auction company. The only information available at this time is that the Viking ring was in a series of banana crates from an unnamed plot of land. Just before Heskestad purchased the entire collection, it was added to a larger collection.
“This has happened throughout the history of archaeology. Someone finds something – and that’s why it’s so important to get in touch with the right people, so an archaeologist can come and examine where something was found. Unn Pedersen, associate professor of archeology at the University of Oslo, said: If you find just one piece of jewelry it’s really important to notify archaeologists so we can come and see it. Is there anything else there? She is an expert in non-ferrous metalworking and an authority on artifacts from the Viking Age.
Mari Ingelin Heskestad of Norway, while browsing jewelry online, purchased a jumbled collection of jewelry in an online auction that contained this Viking ring possibly worn by a Viking leader. Source: Vestland District Municipality
Gold: A sign of high social status in Viking society
Both men and women wore jewelry as a marker or indicator of social status in Viking society. Silver is much more common, suggesting it is not as valuable as gold. Gold was rarely worn, suggesting it was associated with high economic and social status. Gold is rare because its supply was very limited during the Viking Age, which further cemented its elite status, reports Science Norway.
“Gold was a valuable and expensive material during the Viking Age, actively used to symbolize power, to gain power over others and establish hierarchies. For example, finger rings were found in the Hoen hoard, a Viking Age treasure trove with countless gold items. So I find it likely that it was used by someone in the elite, possibly one of the many chieftains of the smaller territories,” Unn Pedersen said.
She helped analyze Heskestad’s find and stated that similarities to this ring had been found in silver but added that “…it is extremely rare to find such a gold ring from the Viking Age in Scandinavia. Based on information provided by local archaeologists, this particular ring was an appropriate size for a man, but real Viking-era gold wristbands were also found in women’s tombs. female. And I think the burial of the extremely well-equipped Oseberg shows that women could also be chiefs.”
What is especially difficult is determining where the ring was originally found. As Pedersen notes, both male and female graves are equally possible locations for this ring. It can also be hidden under the floorboards of a house, another commonly kept safe location.
Finally, it is not uncommon to find an entire jewelry collection in an obscure location, hidden or kept there as part of a larger communication ritual in the afterlife.
The heavy gold ring is now in the possession of the University Museum in Bergen, where it will be on permanent display in autumn 2022.
