Jomfruland is a small, remote island off the southeast coast of Norway, facing the Skagerrak Strait and Denmark, accessible only by sea. Its permanent population barely reaches 75 people. The rest are homes that are used mainly during vacations.
The island was originally called Aur (Aurr, in Old Norse), which means “gravel” or “wet clay”. But by the 1400s and 1500s it was already known by its current name, which would come to mean something like “virgin land” (jomfru means “virgin”, perhaps a reference to the Virgin Mary or her clean, clear waters).
A few days ago, in the house of one of the families who live permanently there, someone lost an earring in the backyard. Neither quick nor lazy, they decided to look for the small ring with a metal detector. And what they ended up discovering left them stunned.
Instead of finding the modern gem, they spotted a sign under a large tree behind their home. And when they dug, they came across a series of relics from a Viking burial that included two bronze ornaments that experts say were once covered in gold.
When they realized what they were up to, the family stopped digging and quickly contacted the local government, according to the cultural heritage officers of the County of Vestfold and Telemark. Researchers point out that these may be the first artifacts from the Viking Age (793 to 1066 AD) to have appeared on the island of Jomfruland, which would confirm that there were people living there more than 1,000 years ago.
Several piles of loose rocks had so far been found in the southwest of the island and specialists believed they could be parts of constructions built during the Viking Age, perhaps as a means of claiming the land and the nearby sea route, although they do not exist. written records of that time.
The discovery now of what appears to be the grave of an aristocratic woman would seem to confirm that the stones were, in fact, laid by the Vikings. The largest artifact found in the tomb is an oval-shaped brooch that would have been worn with a sleeveless dress, characteristic of the 9th century, to fasten the shoulder straps in the front.
Another object was more difficult to identify. Archaeologists have finally been able to determine that it is also a brooch, although in this case, circular in shape. Molds for this type of ornament have been found in archaeological sites in the city of Ribe (Denmark), which was founded in the 6th century.
Both brooches were decorated with intricate animal engravings and geometric patterns. They were made of bronze and had traces of gold, indicating they had been gilded, experts say. The fact that the tomb was in a yard (and not on a farm) helped preserve it for centuries.
