He found a treasure trove of medieval gold in a meadow, thinking he was digging up a candy jar

In Hoogwoodin the north of the Netherlands, a man with a simple, almost amateurish metal detector has found an ancient treasure of gold and silver.

Regard medieval jewelry and old coins. The discovery had already been made in 2021, but was announced in the last few hours by that country’s National Museum of Antiquities, which called the treasure “very rare”.

The exhibit consists of four gold pendants decorated in the shape of a crescent moon, together with two pieces of gold leaf that fit together and 39 small silver coins. The jewels probably date back to the 11th century and are therefore about ten centuries old.

The coins are two centuries younger, from the XIII century. He National Museum of Antiquitieswhere the hoard is displayed, he believes both jewelry and coins were buried together.

The unique treasure was discovered in 2021 by Lorenzo Ruijter, 27 years old, with a simple metal detector. He himself studied history and often conducts research with the detector of him.

Ruijter himself suspects that his historical knowledge of West Friesland, the region of the Netherlands where he made his discovery, has led him to the right place. I think it’s a combination of chance, instinct and researchhe told NH Nieuws.

“It was the end of the day, actually I was tired and wanted to go home. Then the detector clicked, I dug it up and then I had gold in my hands,” she recalls the day he found the treasure.

“At first I thought it was a piece of a jam jar. Then I cleaned it up and saw all kinds of engravings. At that time I was shaking with adrenaline. With shaking hands I lifted that thing” Ruijter said.

“This discovery is not only important to Hoogwoud, but has national and even international significance,” said the curator. Annemarieke Willemsen of the National Museum of Antiquities. “It’s very rare to find jewelry from this era.”

The piece of jewelery is decorated on one side and has flimsy coat hangers. “You can see in photos from that period that these types of crescent earrings were worn by women in their ears, perhaps dangling from a headband,” Willemsen said.

As to the exact place where the discovery was made, Ruijter would not say anything. According to him, he has bad memories of when the discovery of a Nazi treasure In the Ommeren Region, and how the place was filled with treasure hunters without permission flooding the place. “That was a disaster. I’d rather not see him in Hoogwood“, he justified himself.