Treasure of rare jewelry discovered in the north of the Netherlands

One of the Dutch historians discovered a 1000-year-old treasure in the form of four ear pendants, two strips of gold leaf and 39 silver coins. This was announced by the Leiden Museum. Lorenzo Ruijter, 27, told Reuters he has been searching for the treasure since he was 10 years old. He discovered the treasure in 2021 in the small town of Hogwood in the north of the country with the help of a metal detector. “It was very specific to find such valuable things, I can’t even describe it. I never expected to find something like this,” he said, admitting that it was not easy to keep a secret about the treasure for two years.

Experts needed time to find out the origin and date the objects found. As a result, the age of the “freshest” coin from the hoard is 773 years, which convinced them that the treasure was “buried” in 1250, that is, in the 13th century. Jewelry decorations date back to the 11th century. “Gold jewelry in the early Middle Ages was a rarity for the Netherlands,” the museum noted.

According to scientists, the treasure was buried in order to protect expensive property from prying eyes, since in the middle of the 13th century. there was fighting between West Frisia and Holland, and Hogwood was at the very epicenter of these events.