In
Hoogwoud
, in the north of the Netherlands, a man with a simple, almost amateurish metal detector found an ancient treasure of gold and silver.
These are
jewels from the Middle Ages
and ancient coins.
The discovery was already made in 2021, but it was announced in the last hours by the National Museum of Antiquities of that country, which described the treasure as "very rare".
The find consists of
four gold pendants
decorated in the shape of a crescent moon, along with two pieces of gold leaf that fit together and 39 small silver coins.
The jewels probably date from the 11th century and are therefore about ten centuries old.
In the found there were 39 silver coins.
Photo: Reuters
The coins are two centuries younger, from the 13th century.
The
National Museum of Antiquities
, where the hoard is on display, believes that both the jewelry and the coins were
buried together.
The unique treasure was discovered in 2021 by 27-year-old
Lorenzo Ruijter
with a simple metal detector.
He himself has studied history and often conducts research with his detector.
Ruijter himself suspects that his historical knowledge of West Friesland, the region of the Netherlands where he made his find, led him to the right place.
"I think it's a combination of
chance, instinct and research
," he told NH Nieuws.
The thousand-year-old treasure was found in Hoogwoud, north of Amsterdam, by a local historian.
Photo: Reuters
"It was the end of the day, I was actually
tired and wanted to go home
. Then the detector went off, I dug it up and then I had some gold in my hands," he recalls of the day he found the treasure.
"At first I thought it was a piece from a jam jar. Then I cleaned it up and saw all kinds of engravings. At that moment I
trembled with adrenaline.
With trembling hands I picked up the thing," Ruijter said.
"This find is not only important for Hoogwoud, but it has national and even international significance," said curator
Annemarieke Willemsen
of the National Museum of Antiquities.
"It is very rare to find jewelry from this era."
The jewel is decorated on one side and has
fragile suspension mounts
.
"In images from that time you can see that these types of crescent moon earrings were worn by ladies in their ears, possibly hanging from a headband," Willemsen said.
On the exact place where the discovery was made, Ruijter did not want to say anything.
According to him, he has an ugly memory of when the discovery of a Nazi treasure
in the
Ommeren region
was announced some time ago ,
and how the place was filled with unlicensed treasure hunters who flooded the place.
"That was a disaster.
I prefer not to see that in Hoogwoud
", he justified himself.
look too
He was recycling his house and cried when they found a package hidden by the former owner in the chimney
World amazement: they found the last Tasmanian tiger inside a closet
A dirty coin, the key to reveal the myth of the "Enemy of humanity"
