Amateur metal detector discovers largest hoard of Viking treasure ever found in Scotland
A retired businessman with a passion for metal detecting has discovered one of the greatest, and certainly the largest, caches of Viking treasure ever unburied in Scotland. Derek McLennan pinpointed the hoard while detecting with two friends in September. ...
A retired businessman with a passion for metal detecting has discovered one of the greatest, and certainly the largest, caches of Viking treasure ever unburied in Scotland. Derek McLennan pinpointed the hoard while detecting with two friends in September.
"If I hadn't made arrangements with my friends, I probably wouldn't have gone out that day. I literally pulled myself out of my sickbed.'
McLennan almost didn't make it out that day. He tells guest host Helen Mann he was suffering from a bad case of 'man flu', and only made the effort because he'd made a commitment to two friends.
Because he wasn't feeling well, he contained his detecting to a very small area.
"I put my spade into the ground and dug down about eighteen inches. I put my hand into the hole and grasped an object that I now know to be a Viking arm ring."
McLennan says that when his detector went off and he began to dig, he was initially confused because even after he'd dug down 45 centimetres, he didn't find anything. Then he reached into the hole and touched what he initially believed to be a silver spoon. When he rubbed it clean, he knew it was a Viking armband.
He was struck speechless.
When he reached back into the hole to demonstrate to his friend how he'd found the band, he found another.
In total there are more than 100 artifacts, including a Carolingian covered pot thought to be the largest ever discovered. McLennan doesn't yet know what the pot contains. The discovery will likely lead Scots to re-examine their relationship with the Norsemen.
"I'm more into the historical value of the hoard. That's what I'm focused on."
Under Scottish Treasure Trove law, McLennan is entitled to the full value of the treasure. He says that he's not really thinking of the money, but of the importance of the discovery. Because the find was made on Church of Scotland land, McLennan has promised 50% of the money to the church.
