In Denmark , a man with a alloy detector recently made a small — but spectacular — obtain : a rare Viking crucifix dependent date back to the 10thcentury . According to Discovery News , the midget amber hybridization is remember to be the land ’s oldest rood-tree . This ancient find suggests that Danes might have convert to Christianity earlier than experts previously thought .
The well - preserve cross measures 1.6 inches high , and is forge in the shape of Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross . It was found in the Ithiel Town of Aunslev , Østfyn , by a alloy detector hobbyist named Dennis Fabricius Holm . Holm had an afternoon off work , and decide to take his car out for a spin . While walking in the fields around a church , “ I came suddenly on something , ” Holm told Danish intelligence sourceDK(translation via Google Translate ) . “ Since I cleared the mud and saw the jewellery , I have not been capable to think of anything else . ”
Holm send news of his uncovering on societal media , The Independentreports . viewer say him to take it to a museum , and the rood-tree is now under the care of expert at the Viking Museum Ladby .
According to the Ladby Museum , the pendant is historically important . It ’s older than the famous runestone find oneself in the Danish town of Jelling , etched with a figure on a cross , which memorialise the Danes ’ changeover to Christianity by Norse king Harald Bluetooth . date back to roughly 965 CE , it was thought to be the earliest depiction of Jesus on a cross in Denmark . The fresh discovered crucifix pendent , which was likely made between 900–950 CE , changes that whimsey .
“ The figure can … help to advance the fourth dimension when one view that the Danes really were Christians , ” Malene Refshauge Beck , a conservator and archaeologist at the Østfyns Museum in Kerteminde , Denmark , toldThe Independent . “ just because one can say that the person who carried it here no doubt embraced the Christian faith . ”
The rood was likely worn by a Viking woman , although the Ladby Museumsaid in a releasethat their experts have n’t determine “ whether the crossbreed was to show that she was a Christian Viking or was just a part of a pagan Viking ’s bling - bling . ”
The pendant will be showcased at the Ladby until Easter , and then it will be sent to a preservation lab . This summer , it will be part of a museum expo highlighting other Viking objects found in Denmark with metal detector .
[ h / tDiscovery News ]
