Alex Carson
Metal Detectorists
There are many people who set out with metal detectors hoping to find a hidden treasure. These people are very patient and very persistent. Some go out alone, and some go out in a group. They
Terese Frydensberg Refsgaard
Terese spends her days working as a dental assistant. When she isn’t in the office, she loves to be out with her metal detector looking for hidden treasure. She considered herself an amateur archaeologist. For a while, she was digging on her own. When other metal detectorists saw how dedicated Therese was, they invited her to join their group. Terese was thrilled to get the invitation. While the group didn’t make any monumental discoveries, she thought that it would be nice to have a group of people to support her.
Hjarno
The November after she joined the group, Terese and her team had a chance to search the island of Hjarno, located off the coast of Denmark. The area spanned just over a square mile, but it had a reputation of being an excellent place for detectorists. It was going to be a great place to search.
Previous Finds
The group was excited to search the area because an amazing discovery was made there. Back in 2008, archaeologists discovered the remnants of a stone structure on the island. The stone dated back to the year 5200 BC and were the remains of a Stone Age settlement. Since something amazing was discovered there, the group had high hopes of finding something as well.
Searching
When Terese and her group arrived on the island, the group
Careful Digging
When Teresa started digging, she was careful. If she actually did find something of worth, she didn’t want to damage it. She filled her spade carefully with dirt and sifted through it. Finally, she saw something that caught her eye. It looked like a small piece of gold. This led her to dig more, and finally, she hit the mother load.
Metal Artifacts
She found metal artifacts that were made of gold. They were covered with intricate loops, which told her that whoever made these gold pieces were a master at their craft. In total, she found 23 pieces of jewelry. She called her friends over to see the amazing discovery that she made.
The 6th Century
The object that Teresa uncovered were from the 6th century. They predated the Viking era, where tribes were often stealing and stashing treasure all over Europe. They wanted to know more about the artifacts, so they took them to an expert. His name is Mads Ravn, and he is a researcher from the Vejle Museum. He believes that the artifacts were from the Romans.
Why?
Mads had a theory as to why the treasure was buried on the island. A volcano erupted and killed over 100,000 people, and nobody in Europe knew about it. It occurred thousands of miles away in El Salvador. The effects spread to Europe with strange weather patterns that killed their harvest. The people thought that the Gods were punishing them with famine, so they buried the treasure as an offering.
Museums
Two separate museums have the objects that Terese found on display. While Terese didn’t get any money for her discovery, she got the bragging rights because she found them. This is huge in her group. Most of the people in her group have never found more than a quarter. Finding something that basically rewrote history was the most fantastic thing that has ever happened to her. She still works at the dentist office, and she likes to tell her patients about what she found on the island that day. It was an amazing thing for her. During her free time, she is often out searching with her metal detector, hoping to find her next treasure. She knows that it may never happen again, but she isn’t planning to give up. She is sure that there are plenty of other things hidden, just waiting to be found.
