19 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Norwegian Boy in Search of Granddad’s Wedding Ring Finds 1500-year-old Roman Jewellery

Sander Magnus Vang (12) needed to find his grandfather’s lost wedding ring. Instead, he found a 1500-year-old ring.

The golden ring from the late Roman period, also known as the Migration Period, is thought to be proof that wealthy and powerful individuals existed in Northern Europe at the time.

Twelve-year-old Sander Magnus Vang from Inderøy in Trøndelag County was looking for the ring of his grandfather, Tomas Vang, who lost his wedding ring this winter.

Grandson Sander (12) has a metal detector and is looking for the ring this summer. When he found gold on the ground, started beeping. “I got a very loud sound”, he told national broadcaster NRK.

His grandpa, Tomas Vang, said he had been hoping to reclaim his wedding ring, which he had misplaced this winter, but he was pleased with the “wonderful find.”

Twelve-year-old Sander Magnus Vang from Inderøy in Trøndelag County has managed to find a 1,500-year-old ring from Roman times while searching for his grandfather's missing wedding ring with a metal detector. Photo: TARIK ALİSUBH / NRK
Twelve-year-old Sander Magnus Vang from Inderøy in Trøndelag County has managed to find a 1,500-year-old ring from Roman times while searching for his grandfather’s missing wedding ring with a metal detector. Photo: TARIK ALİSUBH / NRK

They quickly reported the discovery to archaeologists to ensure they hadn’t done anything illegal.

“We don’t get so many inquiries of this kind, so this is a bit special,” archaeologist Hanne Haugen of the cultural heritage section in Trøndelag county municipality told NRK.

The archaeologist estimates the ring to be about 1500 years old. That’s why it probably dates from late Roman times or migration times, Haugen says.

Archaeologist Hanne Haugen, “It looks like it was originally a small finger ring in gold. And then there are twisted thin gold strips around, which we interpret as payment gold. So probably this is simply currency to pay for goods and services,” she mused. “It says that there have been people who have had resources, relatively powerful or rich people. There is quite a lot of gold in this ring. Here we have great value that someone has lost, hidden, or sacrificed 1,500 years ago,” she said.

The ring will be returned to the NTNU University Science Museum after being X-rayed and cleaned.

Related Articles

Madagascar’s Enigmatic Rock-Cut Architecture may have been of Zoroastrian origin

13 September 2024

13 September 2024

An international team of researchers found an enigmatic rock-cut architecture at Teniky, a site in the remote Isalo Massif in...

Drought accelerated Hittite Empire’s collapse

9 February 2023

9 February 2023

Researchers have offered new insight into the abrupt collapse of the  Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age, with an...

Important archaeological find in the seas of Sicily: Archaic stone anchors found off Syracuse

24 November 2023

24 November 2023

During a joint operation by the Maritime Superintendency of the Sicilian Region and the Diving Unit of the Guardia di...

Archaeologists Discover 8600-year-old Bread at Çatalhöyük May be the Oldest Bread in the World

5 March 2024

5 March 2024

Archaeologists have discovered about 8,600-year-old bread at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement in central Turkey. Çatalhöyük is noteworthy because it is...

Netherlands’s unique treasure finds of medieval gold jewelry and silver coins

12 March 2023

12 March 2023

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (the National Museum of Antiquities) in the Netherlands has announced that a unique treasure of 1000-year-old...

The ruins believed to belong to Noah’s Ark date back to 5500-3000 years BC.

26 October 2023

26 October 2023

Rock and soil samples taken from the area where the ruins of ‘Noah’s Ark‘ are believed to be located in...

4,000-Year-Old Flint Arrow Lodged in Human Rib Reveals Direct Evidence of Prehistoric Violence

18 July 2025

18 July 2025

In a discovery shedding light on prehistoric human conflict, archaeologists have found a flint arrowhead embedded in a human rib...

A Polish-Croatian team discovered Ancient Roman Temple under a Croatian 18th Century church

24 November 2022

24 November 2022

Under an 18th-century church, the Church of St. Daniel in Danilo near Sibenik, Croatia, the foundations of an ancient Roman...

Archaeologists Uncover 8 Graves Dated 6,500 Years Ago in Lausanne, Swiss

30 October 2021

30 October 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed eight prehistoric tombs between 5,500 and 6,500 years old in the Swiss town of Pully. The site...

10 Ancient Shipwrecks and Finds from Prehistoric to Ottoman Periods Discovered οff Kasos Island in Greece

14 March 2024

14 March 2024

The research team of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, has identified ten shipwrecks...

Rare gladiator tombs were discovered in the Ancient City of Anavarza in southern Türkiye

10 August 2022

10 August 2022

Archaeologists have discovered rare gladiator tombs in the ancient city of Anavarza, known as the “Invincible city” in history, which...

Anthropologists say humans have been using personal ornaments to communicate about themselves without the fuss of conversation – for millennia

24 September 2021

24 September 2021

Anthropologists believe that for millennia, individuals have used personal decorations to communicate about themselves without the hassle of dialogue. They...

In Turkey’s western Uşak province, 2,000-year-old statues have been unearthed

19 December 2021

19 December 2021

During the excavations in the ancient city of Blaundos in the Ulubey district of Uşak, two statues of 2000 years...

Unique Lion-Headed Handles Unveiled from a Roman-Period Cist Tomb Near Khirbat Ibreika

30 April 2025

30 April 2025

Beneath the ancient dust of Khirbat Ibreika in southern Israel, archaeologists have unearthed an unexpected enigma: four bronze discs, each...

1,800-year-old Bronze military medal with Medusa head found in southeastern Turkey

5 October 2022

5 October 2022

A military medal believed to be almost 1,800 years old has been found by archaeologists in Turkey. The discovery was...