Newly published research into the Roman gold coins in the Vindelev treasure points to a strong local power in the small town in East Jutland with connections to a network of the European elite.

The hoard consists of 23 gold objects dating to the Migration Period (375-568 A.D.) unearthed at a farm in Vindelev outside of Jelling in South Jutland by a metal detectorist in December of 2020. There are 13 Nordic gold bracteates (thin, round gold sheets carved with figures from Norse mythology) from the 5th century A.D, including the largest bracteate in the world, and one with a runic inscription that is the earliest known mention of Odin. There is also granulated gold fitting from a sword or knife. There are four Roman gold medallions from the 4th century A.D. mounted as pendants. Four gold medallions together in a single hoard have never been found before in Denmark.

Senior researcher Helle Horsnæs, who is behind the research, has examined the four Roman medallions that are part of the treasure and can conclude that, by all accounts, the medallions were included as bride-payments or gifts in a European network of important women and men in the Roman part of Europe.

And someone from that network has therefore stayed on a farm in Vindelev, because the treasure was found there. This surprises Helle Horsnæs.

“There are other exciting gold finds in the East Jutland area, but Vindelev is just bigger on all parameters. We don’t have any signs that there was supposed to be a power base in Vindelev at this time, so it is surprising for us to find objects that not only show local power, but also European connections,” she says.

“This really puts Vindelev on the European map and places the owner at the highest European level.”

The four gold medallions were issued by four different emperors : Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.), Constans (337-350 A.D.), Valentinian I (364-375 A.D.) and Gratian (367-383 A.D.). It is therefore extremely unlikely that they were awarded to the august personage in Vindelev. They also had loops mounted at the top by artisans outside of the Roman Empire so they could be worn as pendants, suggesting that the medallions changed hands several times before winding up at Vindelev.

One of the medallions has particularly attracted Helle Horsnæs’ attention. It turns out that it is stamped with exactly the same stamp as a medallion found in Zargozyn in Poland.

The two medallions have therefore been followed out of the Roman Empire, after which they have had rings attached in the same workshop and reworked into pendants. After that, one may have taken different detours to Zargorzyn in Poland and the other to Vindelev in Denmark.

“It shows that the European network at this time in the Iron Age was widely branched, and that the European elite were already connected to each other back then,” says Helle Horsnæs.

An 11-year-old boy discovered a rare gold Roman cuff bracelet in a field near Pagham in West Sussex, England. It is a decorated bracelet of the armilla type, awarded to Roman soldiers for valour, and dates to the 1st century A.D. As a gold object more than 300 years old, it has officially been declared treasure at a coroner’s inquest.

Rowan Brannan was walking the dog with his mother Amanda two years ago when he picked up a shiny yellow piece of metal. This is not unusual for Rowan. He likes to scout the ground for interesting things to pick up (don’t we all?), but his mother usually vetoes his pickups. This time he hung on to it, adamant that it was gold even when his mother told him it was probably just a gross old fragment of fence or something.

Once he got home, he researched how to determine if a metal is gold, and his find checked all the boxes. It probably wouldn’t have gone beyond the curiosity stage if a metal detecting friend of his mother’s hadn’t come over. She thought Rowan had something worth investigating and sent a picture to the leader of her metal detecting group. He suggested they report it to their local Finds Liaison Officer. Archaeologists examined the piece and confirmed it was real ancient Roman gold jewelry.

It is a large fragment of a bracelet 8.1 mm (.3 inches) wide and 71.3 mm (2.8 inches) long folded over. One of the folded sides is about 8 mm shorter than the other, so if it were unfolded it would be about 135 mm (5.3 inches) long. (There are some bends and waves so it’s not the straight measurement.) The total gold weight is 7.69 grams. It is decorated with five parallel bands, three plain ribs and two in rope style with the lines at opposite angles. One terminal end is pierced.

Several examples of copper-alloy Roman wide cuff bracelets have been found in Britain, but gold examples are far more rare. This is only the fourth recorded in the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. The gold ones are all slimmer than the base metal ones which are usually 12-22 mm, and with so few examples of them known, archaeologists are still not certain the gold ones actually were worn as cuff bracelets. Scholars believe the more valuable the metal, the higher the rank of the officer who was awarded it.

Amanda said the piece has been analyzed at the British Museum and has gone through the Coroner’s Court in a ‘fascinating’ process where they have been learning more and more about the bracelet.

She said: “It’s very exciting whenever we read an email and we have been kept up to date throughout the whole process.

“The Coroner’s Court emailed us and said ‘it’s been so lovely to deal with Rowan’s treasure’.”