The peculiar gold-plaque allegedly found in Poland near Wolin with an inscription about Harold Bluetooth has undergone metallurgical studies
Recently a strange golden object with an inscription about the Danish Viking King, Harold Bluetooth, resurfaced from an old box brought from Poland in the aftermath of WW2.
Whether authentic or not, the object is in itself decidedly odd and would – even if fake – raise a number of questions. These have been carefully considered in a 12-page long essay in Swedish by the archaeologist, Sven Rosborn, which have been commented upon here.
Recently (18.06.2015) research into the metallurgic composition of the gold-plaque was conducted in Lund. The preliminary results were these:
- The plaque is solid, made of 89 – 92% gold
- There are a lot of bubbles, which indicates the use of a primitive casting technique
- The gold is not very well mixed with the other metals – silver, copper, tin etc. This might also indicate the plaque was produced under “primitive” circumstances.
A scientific group is currently being set to further the study of the peculiar “find” and its context. So far Polish contacts have discovered slight signs of what might – perhaps – be a Viking Ringfortress in the landscape 2000 meters from the Medieval church, where the plaque was allegedly found
SOURCE:
A presentation of the metallurgical analysis may be found here
A link to Google map may be found here
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Read the story behind the find and some reflections about its alleged authenticity
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SCientists and archaeologists discussing the find at Lund University
FEATURED PHOTO:
Meister des Registrum Gregorii
Registrum Gregorii with the Emperor Otto The great showing off the four parts of his realm ca. 985
© Musée Condé