A 1000-year-old Viking silver treasure found in Sweden

Archaeologists have discovered a 1,000-year-old silver Viking treasure at Täby, Viggbyholm, outside of Stockholm. The treasure was found during an archeological excavation of a Viking Age settlement in Täby.

More than 20 houses and buildings were found by archaeologists, the earliest of which date to around 400 AD and which extend into the Viking Age (800–1050 AD) and the early Middle Ages. The treasure was hidden beneath a building’s former wooden floor.

The hoard includes eight exceptionally well-preserved torc-style braided neck rings, two arm rings, one finger ring, two beads, and 12 coins perforated for use as pendants, 11 of which are mounted with hanging loops.

The jewelry in the tiny ceramic pot was combined with the coins that had been put in a linen pouch. The linen pouch’s remnants have survived, providing archaeologists with a unique chance to examine organic material.

“This is something you probably only experience once in a lifetime,” said archaeologist Maria Lingström.

“When I started to carefully remove the neck rings one by one, I had this extraordinary feeling of “they just keep coming and coming”. In total there were eight high-quality torque-style neck rings, extraordinary well preserved despite having been made and deposited almost a thousand years ago. They looked almost completely new,” Maria Lingström says.

The coins are a perfect example of the extensive connections and thriving trade that existed in Viking Age Scandinavia. Several European coins exist, representing countries such as England, Bohemia, and Bavaria. The treasure also included five Arabic coins known as dirhams. One of the European coins is extremely rare, having been minted in Rouen, Normandy, France. It was built around the 10th century AD. According to Professor Jens Christian Moesgaard at Stockholm University, this type of coin has previously ever been identified from drawings in an 18th-century book.

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The archaeologists also discovered other items in the region, including arrows, quernstones, and exquisite amulet rings.

Cover Photo: The treasure. Photo: Acta Konserveringscentrum AB