1,400-year-old gold figures depicting Norse gods unearthed at former pagan temple

Known as "gullglubber," the gold-foil figure depicts the god Frøy and the goddess Gerd.
(Image credit: The Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo)

Archaeologists in Norway unearthed dozens of tiny gold-foil figures at a former pagan temple.

Archaeologists have discovered 35 miniature gold-foil depictions of Norse gods tucked inside the remnants of a pagan temple in Norway.

The gold foils, which are flat and as thin as a piece of paper, contain etched motifs depicting the god Frøy and the goddess Gerd and date to the Merovingian period in Norway, which began in 550 and continued into the Viking Age, according to Science Norway. The foils may have been used as sacrificial offerings.

The gold pieces lack holes, so it's unlikely that they were worn as jewelry. The first gold foils were discovered in Scandinavia in 1725 and were eventually labeled as "gullglubber," which translates to "golden old men."

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Archeological evidence shows the violence of Viking raids on the coasts of Scotland

Iona Abbey, situated on the remote Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides, was a central religious site that experienced multiple Viking raids. Source: Heartland Arts / Shutterstock

It is today fashionable among historians and commentators to recast the Vikings as a more peaceable group of settlers who came to places like the British Isles to trade valuable goods, swap farming tips, and exchange cultural niceties. 

There is some truth to this, of course – a considerable number of Norse people did indeed integrate and settle abroad without any undue trouble. 

At the same time, the Vikings (or, more specifically, the seafaring marauders who regularly ventured overseas) didn't establish a fearsome reputation as brutal raiders for nothing. 

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A Norwegian Man Stumbled Upon a Trove of Gold Dating to the Early Middle Ages, Including a Rare Pendant Depicting the Norse God Odin

Amateur archaeologist Erlend Bore posing with a gold treasure photographed shortly after he found them in the ground with a metal detector on the island of Rennesøy in Stavanger. Photo by ANNIKEN CELINE BERGER/NTB/Arkeologisk museum, UiS /AFP via Getty Images.

Archaeologists say the find is Norway's most significant discovery of gold treasures in over a century.

A Norwegian man who took up metal detecting as a hobby accidentally discovered a trove of gold treasure that date from around 500 C.E.

Erlend Bore, aged 51, from the city of Stravanger, was going for a walk on the island of Rennesøy when his metal detector began beeping. Although his first thought was that he’d chance upon foiled chocolate coins, Bore alerted archaeologists who managed to locate and unearth three gold rings as well as nine gold medallions and ten gold pearls that were originally strung together on a necklace.

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Norwegian family finds Viking-era relics while looking for earring

One expert concluded that the buckle dates from between 780 and 850

A family in Norway were searching for a lost gold earring in their garden when they decided to get their metal detector out.

They did not find the earring but did stumble upon something else: artefacts dating back more than 1,000 years.

The Aasvik family dug up a bowl-shaped buckle and another item that appear to be part of a Viking-era burial.

Experts believe the artefacts were used in the ninth-century burial of a woman on the small island of Jomfruland.

The discovery was made under a large tree in the centre of the family's garden on the island, off Norway's south coast.

"We congratulate the family who found the first safe Viking-time find at Jomfruland," the Cultural Heritage of Vestfold and Telemark County Council wrote in a Facebook post.

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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.

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Impressive Textile Reconstruction Shows What Viking Age People Dressed Like

 

The finished outfits in the Viking Age exhibition, The Raid, at the National Museum of Denmark. Credit: Charlotte Rimstad

Some historical movies can give us a surprisingly accurate image of the ancient past. Still, when we want to gain a solid knowledge of ancient history, most prefer to rely on archaeologists, historians, and other specialized experts rather than movie producers. This brings us to the subject of this article – How did Viking Age people dress?

How Did Scientists Reconstruct Viking Age Clothing?

The impressive Viking Age project led by the National Museum of Copenhagen gives us an outstanding view of the Viking Age society.

The museum has collaborated with the Centre for Textile Research (CTR) at University of Copenhagen and leading Scandinavian textile experts from several universities to recreate the fashion of the Viking Age.

Scientists have successfully produced clothes our ancestors wore by analyzing archaeological finds of textile tools, textiles, skins, and fibers from graves and settlements.

Textile samples were taken from Hedeby, and the male and female cloth reconstruction was based on the content in two famous Danish Viking Age inhumation graves

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British Museum asks public and experts to help recover stolen artefacts

The British Museum has asked the public to help identify and recover ancient artefacts that have gone missing from its collection.

Last month a member of staff was sacked and police launched an investigation after around 2,000 treasures were reported "missing, stolen or damaged" over a "significant" period of time.

The museum has now said most are Greek and Roman gems and jewellery, and shared pictures of similar items.

Sixty objects have been returned.

In a statement, the museum added that 300 more had been "identified and [are] due to be returned imminently".

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