A Norwegian man who says he bought a metal detector because his doctor told him to get off the couch discovered what researchers have described as “the gold find of the century,” according to multiple outlets.
Erlend Bore, 51, made the discovery on Norway’s southern island of Rennesøy in August, CBS News reported Thursday.
“At first I thought it was chocolate coins or Captain Sabertooth coins,” he said, according to the outlet. Captain Sabertooth is a fictional Norwegian character.
Archaeological find of the century in Stavanger region in Norway! https://t.co/PvEYcWykQa @StvAftenblad pic.twitter.com/TCxAsB1he4
— Arkeologisk museum (@ArkmuseumUiS) September 7, 2023
What Bore found turned out to be a lot more valuable than chocolates. Nine pendants, three rings and 10 gold pearls turned up for Bore in a treasure trove of gold weighing a little more than 100 grams, according to CBS. “It was totally unreal,” he said.
Norwegian law states that any object dated before 1537, and any coins from before 1650, are considered state property and must be relinquished, the outlet reported. The gold pendants Bore discovered date back to A.D. 500, a period of widespread migration in Norway, Stavanger Archaeological Museum associate professor Håkon Reierson said, according to CBS. Bore’s find will be displayed in the museum. (RELATED: West Point Time Capsule Yields Small Treasure After All)
Bore and the landowner where the gold was found will receive some type of reward, the amount of which is still to be determined, according to CBS.
Nobody has made a discovery of the same caliber in Norway since the 19th century, according to Reierson. “In Norway, no similar discovery has been made since the 19th century, and it is also a very unusual discovery in a Scandinavian context,” he said, per CBS.
To find “so much gold at the same time is extremely unusual,” museum director Ole Madsen said.
The concentration and location of the find led experts to deem it buried treasure. “This is probably a matter of either hidden valuables or an offering to the gods during dramatic times,” Reierson said, according to CBS.