COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — At first, the Norwegian man thought his metallic detector reacted to chocolate cash buried within the soil. It turned out to be 9 pendants, three rings and 10 gold pearls somebody may need worn as showy jewellery 1,500 years in the past.

The uncommon discover was made this summer time by 51-year-old Erlend Bore on the southern island of Rennesoey, close to town of Stavanger. Bore had purchased his first metallic detector earlier this yr to have a passion after his physician ordered him to get out as a substitute of sitting on the sofa.

Ole Madsen, director on the Archaeological Museum on the College of Stavanger, mentioned that to seek out “a lot gold on the identical time is extraordinarily uncommon.”

In August, Bore started strolling across the mountainous island along with his metallic detector. An announcement issued by the college mentioned he first discovered some scrap, however later uncovered one thing that was “fully unreal” — the treasure weighing somewhat greater than 100 grams (3.5 oz).

Underneath Norwegian regulation, objects from earlier than 1537, and cash older than 1650, are thought of state property and have to be handed in.

Affiliate professor Håkon Reiersen with the museum mentioned the gold pendants — flat, skinny, single-sided gold medals known as bracteates — date from round A.D. 500, the so-called Migration Interval in Norway, which runs between 400 and about 550, when there have been widespread migrations in Europe.

The pendants and gold pearls have been a part of “a really showy necklace” that had been made by expert jewelers and was worn by society’s strongest, mentioned Reiersen. He added that “in Norway, no comparable discovery has been made because the nineteenth century, and additionally it is a really uncommon discovery in a Scandinavian context.”

An knowledgeable on such pendants, professor Sigmund Oehrl with the identical museum, mentioned that about 1,000 golden bracteates have to date been present in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

He mentioned symbols on the pendants normally present the Norse god Odin therapeutic the sick horse of his son. On the Rennesoey ones, the horse’s tongue hangs out on the gold pendants, and “its slumped posture and twisted legs present that it’s injured,” Oehrl mentioned.

“The horse image represented sickness and misery, however on the identical time hope for therapeutic and new life,” he added.

The plan is to exhibit the discover on the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, about 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Oslo.