If you see someone walking with a metal detector, you quickly think: “as if they are ever going to find something”. Yet there is always the chance to stumble upon a valuable treasure. The Dutch historian Lorenzo Ruijter (27) also agrees, who found a unique 1000-year-old medieval treasure. The treasure consists of four gold earrings, two strips of gold leaf and 39 silver coins, the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities announced.
Lorenzo Ruijter said that he has been on a treasure hunt since he was ten years old. He never came across much worth mentioning until he stumbled upon this treasure in the northern town of Hoogwoud. “It was very special to discover something so valuable, I can’t really describe it. I never dared to hope so,” Ruijter told Reuters news agency.
He found the treasure as early as 2021, but experts from the National Museum of Antiquities needed time to clean, examine and date the treasure’s items. They have now discovered that the most recent coin can be dated to about 1250, leading them to believe that the hoard was buried then.
By then, the jewelry was already two centuries old, the museum said, adding that it must have been “an expensive and cherished possession.” “Gold jewelry from the Middle Ages is extremely rare in the Netherlands,” the museum said.
Mystery
While it will remain a mystery why exactly the treasure was buried, the museum pointed out that a war was raging between the Dutch regions of West Friesland and Holland in the mid-13th century, with Hoogwoud as the epicenter. Ruijter said it’s possible that someone powerful at the time buried the valuables to protect them and hopefully dig them up once it was safe again.
Given its archaeological significance, the treasure has been loaned to the museum, which is eager to exhibit it. Fortunately, 27-year-old Ruijter remains the official owner of this find.
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