Search For Lost Earring Leads To Discovery Of Viking Treasure In Norway

When a family in Norway decided to employ a metal detector to search their yard for a lost earring, they ended up uncovering far more than they had anticipated.

After a man made a record-breaking gold discovery in Norway with a metal detector, a family in the country made another unprecedented discovery with the same device. The family was searching for a lost earring in their garden when they instead unearthed artefacts dating back more than a millennium.

According to the BBC, the Aasvik family dug up a bowl-shaped buckle and another item that appear to be part of a Viking-era burial. Experts believe the artefacts were used in the ninth-century burial of a woman on the small island of Jomfruland. The discovery was made under a large tree in the centre of the family's garden on the island, off Norway's south coast.

"We congratulate the family who found the first safe Viking-time find at Jomfruland," the Cultural Heritage of Vestfold and Telemark County Council wrote in a Facebook post.