8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

‘Exceptional’ Viking Age silver treasure found in Norway

A treasure trove of silver fragments from the Viking Age has been discovered in Stjørdal, near Trondheim in central Norway.

The treasure is comprised of 46 silver objects. Only two of them are complete finger rings, with the rest consisting of broken coins, bracelets, a braided necklace, chains, and wire. They were collected and cut or broken to use for the silver weight.

The majority of hack silver hoards discovered in Scandinavia contain a fragment of each larger object. This hoard is unusual in that it contains several fragments of the same object.

Unlike some Viking discoveries that are made in connection with construction work, this find was made purely by chance.

Pawel Bednarski, a metal detectorist, discovered the hoard last December. He first discovered two small silver rings, and then more and more pieces began to emerge. Bednarski eventually extracted 46 objects from the ground, all of which were barely buried between an inch and three inches beneath the surface. After rinsing the clay off one of the pieces, he realized he had discovered something of archaeological significance and informed municipal authorities.

Two silver finger rings from the find. Photo: Birgit Maixner / NTNU Science Museum.
Two silver finger rings from the find. Photo: Birgit Maixner / NTNU Science Museum.

“This is a rather exceptional find,” said NTNU Science Museum researcher and archaeologist Birgit Maixner. “It has been many years since such a large treasure find from the Viking Age has been made in Norway.”

According to Maixner, the fact that most of the pieces were broken into fragments can be explained by what we know about the Vikings’ economy.

“This find is from a time when silver pieces that were weighed were used as a means of payment. This system is called the weight economy, and was in use in the transition between the barter economy and the coin economy,” she said.

In continental Europe, the coin economy persisted even after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, but in Norway, no coins were minted until the late 9th century. It was a barter economy until the end of the 8th century when the weight economy began to take hold. It was far more agile than barter because, rather than having to manage a large quantity of goods to be traded, small pieces of silver could be easily packed and carried. Additionally, valuation is much simpler and only needs a scale.

Arabic coins were among the Stjørdal Viking silver find. Photo: Birgit Maixner / NTNU Science Museum.

Arab coins in the collection

The largest source of silver during the Viking Age came from Arabic coins, which were discovered in Stjrdal. One of the main reasons they came to Scandinavia was for the fur trade.

Only four of the seven coins found have had their dates determined, but they all belong to the eighth century. That is a lot older than the majority of other Arab coins found in Norway.

“The relatively old age of the Islamic coins, style of bracelets, and the large degree of fragmentation of most of the objects is more typical of treasure finds from Denmark than from Norway. These features also make it likely to assume that the treasure is from around 900 AD,” explained Maixner.

Silver and Viking Age coins discovered on the plain indicate that trading took place in this area. A Viking Age grave had previously been discovered at the nearby farm Moksnes. Among other things, this contained a bowl scale used to weigh silver.

Cover Photo: The find consists of a total of 46 objects in silver. Photo: Birgit Maixner, NTNU Science Museum.

Related Articles

Medieval Moat and Bridge Discovered Protecting Farmhouse in England

14 March 2024

14 March 2024

Cotswold Archaeology’s excavations in Tewkesbury, a historic riverside town north of Gloucestershire, England, have revealed a medieval moat and bridge...

İnkaya Cave excavations in Türkiye’s western uncovers 86,000-year-old traces of human life

22 August 2023

22 August 2023

In the excavations carried out in the İnkaya Cave in Çanakkale, located in the northwestern part of Türkiye, in addition...

Lost Pirate Ship Possibly Identified Off Madagascar: Archaeologists Believe They’ve Found the Legendary Nossa Senhora do Cabo

9 July 2025

9 July 2025

Shipwreck site near Île Sainte-Marie matches historical records of pirate Olivier Levasseur’s treasure-laden vessel, say researchers After more than fifteen...

Excavations at a 4th millennium BC settlement uncover evidence for the emergence and rejection of the earliest state institutions in Iraq

6 December 2024

6 December 2024

New excavations of the 4th-millennium B.C settlement at the archaeological site of Shakhi Kora, located in the Iraqi Kurdistan region...

Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of British Rule in Florida

29 March 2025

29 March 2025

A recent archaeological excavation in St. Augustine, Florida, has revealed a British redoubt dating back to 1781, offering valuable insight...

A Life-Size Funerary High Relief Discovered in Pompeii’s Porta Sarno Necropolis

3 April 2025

3 April 2025

A research project titled “Investigating the Archaeology of Death in Pompeii,” developed by the Universitat de València in collaboration with...

Rare bronze hand discovered in Roman Vindolanda, England

11 July 2023

11 July 2023

One of Europe’s most important Roman archeological sites is the Fort of Vindolanda, one of the earliest Roman garrisons built...

Jordan’s mysterious ancient wall “Khatt Shebib”

22 October 2022

22 October 2022

The accomplishments of ancient civilizations are typically woefully underappreciated because we stereotype them as primitives who only wore loincloths, and...

According to researchers, the bones discovered underneath St. Peter’s Basilica may not be his

5 June 2021

5 June 2021

Three Italian researchers have voiced doubts about whether St. Peter’s bones are buried underneath the Rome basilica that bears his...

Ancient Balkan genomes trace the rise and fall of the Roman Empire’s frontier, reveal Slavic migrations to southeastern Europe

7 January 2024

7 January 2024

The genomic history of the Balkan Peninsula during the first millennium of the common era—a period marked by significant changes...

Ukrainian Soldiers Uncover 6th–5th Century BC Burial Site During Fortification Works

1 April 2025

1 April 2025

In a remarkable archaeological find, soldiers from the 123rd Territorial Defence Brigade have uncovered an ancient burial site dating back...

1,600-Year-Old Rare Greek Letter-Shaped Weights and Scale Found in Türkiye’s Uzuncaburç

9 July 2025

9 July 2025

Archaeologists have made a significant discovery at the ancient city of Uzuncaburç in Türkiye’s southern Mersin province — a complete...

The world’s largest Byzantine winepresses have been discovered in Israel

11 October 2021

11 October 2021

Archaeologists say they’ve discovered the world’s largest known Byzantine-era winery in the city of Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. The...

2,300-Year-Old Gold Ring Reveals Jerusalem’s Hidden Hellenistic Rituals

27 May 2025

27 May 2025

A remarkable gold ring recently uncovered in Jerusalem is offering fresh insight into Hellenistic-era rituals, ancient jewelry traditions, and the...

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...