"He is Odin's man", it says on one of the huge gold bracteates from the Vindelev Hoard. That is what rune expert Lisbeth Imer and linguist Krister Vashuss have now concluded.
It is the world's oldest inscription with the name Odin, and thus moves Norse mythology back in time a full 150 years, to the beginning of the 5th century.
The ground-breaking result has just been published by the National Museum, in connection with a new documentary series 'The Riddle of Odin' on Danish national television.
The gold treasure went around the world
The Vindelev Hoard is one of the largest, richest and most beautiful gold hoards in Danish history so far. It was found at the village of Vindelev just outside Jelling.
When the Vejle Museums were able to tell about the fantastic treasure for the first time, the story went around the world.
The gold treasure weighs a total of approx. 800 grams, and consists of, among other things of huge medallions the size of saucers. It is these medallions, called bracteates, with runic inscriptions and mythological motifs, that have given rise to the new discoveries.
The cheiftain in Vindelev
The discovery of the enormous amount of gold shows that Vindelev was a center of power in the late Iron Age.
Only a member of society's absolute top has been able to collect such a large gold hoard.
Just barely 8 km from Jelling, which in the 900s became the centre of Viking power in Denmark, there was, in the 500s, a chieftain who managed to create wealth and attract skilled artisans. For reasons still unknown, he chose to dispose of this large gold hoard.
Perhaps to save it in case of war, or perhaps as a sacrifice to higher powers.
Excavation after 8 months of deep secrecy
The gold saw the light of day again around Christmas 2020, when Ole Ginnerup Schytz and Jørgen Antonsen went with a detector at the latter's field in Vindelev. It was the first time Ole was out with his newly acquired metal detector.
The site was excavated in August 2021 by the archaeologists of the Vejle Museums, in collaboration with the National Museum's experts and funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture.
The investigations showed that the treasure was buried in a longhouse, which was located in a village, around 1500 years ago.
A chaotic time
Many of Scandinavia's largest gold finds date from the middle of the 6th century, when the ash cloud from a large volcanic eruption in the year AD 536 created a global climate disaster with many years of poor growth and famine.
Dating suggests that this treasure was laid down at this chaotic time in world history.
According to many researchers, the climatic disaster in 536 caused the inhabitants of what is now Denmark to reject the old rulers and lay down lots of gold in this particular period. Perhaps to hide it from enemies, or perhaps to appease the gods.
More than 40 kg of gold have been found from precisely these centuries in the Iron Age. But the size, the quantity and the technical details of the objects in the treasure that has been found at Vindelev are completely unique, and place the find at the absolute top.
Record number of visitors at the museum in Vejle In 2022, the Vindelev treasure was exhibited as part of the Vejle Museum's Viking exhibition 'Power and Gold - Vikings in the East'.
The exhibition told the story of the prelude to the Viking Age and Harald Bluetooth's alliances in present-day Poland.
The exhibition set an audience record at the Vejle Art Museum, where the treasure was exhibited, doubling the number of visitors at the museum.
| 
