Viking Gold Pendant Found Norfolk
Archaeologists discovered a gold coin pendant believed to have belonged to a Viking soldier in a Norfolk field. The pendant features a profile of Louis the Pious and provides new insights into Viking settlement patterns and trade networks across medieval Europe.
- The use of Frankish coins as jewelry by Vikings was a known practice; a dinar of Louis the Pious (814-840) reused as a pendant was found in a grave at Birka, a significant Viking trading center. - Vikings frequently obtained and repurposed coins from the Carolingian Empire, which was a major European power at the time, through both raiding and extensive trade networks. - Norfolk and the broader region of East Anglia were significant areas of Viking settlement and activity from the late 9th century, an area that became known as the Danelaw. - The "Great Heathen Army," a large coalition of Viking warriors, overwintered in Thetford, Norfolk, in 869 AD before conquering East Anglia. - Numerous other significant Viking-era artifacts have been discovered in Norfolk through metal detecting, including brooches, Thor's hammer amulets, and silver bullion. - While authentic gold solidi of Louis the Pious are known, Vikings also used and traded imitations, likely produced in Frisia (modern-day Netherlands), which had strong trade links with Scandinavian peoples. - These imitation coins were sometimes cut into pieces, known as "hack-gold," to be used as currency based on weight, demonstrating a bullion economy. - Finds of such high-value items provide insights into the wealth and status of individual Vikings, as well as their connections to continental Europe.
