Shimmering item in dirt turns out to be rare 1,200-year-old treasure in Norway.

Thirty years ago, while driving along a highway in Norway, Harald Jacobsen noticed some peculiar-looking soil — and stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient pagan temple. 

Since then, archaeologists have uncovered 30 gold foil pieces at the temple of Hov in Lillehammer, but there has never been a full excavation. Now, due to construction on the road, an extensive survey of the remains is taking place.

Despite the success of previous archaeologists, the team conducting the current excavation prepared itself for the possibility that there could have been no more gold figures at the site. 

But their preparation was for naught. While on the site, archaeologists spotted something shimmering from the dirt and unearthed five more gold foil pieces, according to a Sept. 19 article from Sciencenorway shared by the Kulturhistorisk museum, which is overseeing the excavation.

Read the rest of this article...