While on a family vacation in Sweden, an 8-year-old kid discovered a 900-year-old Viking item on the shore.

An 8-year-old boy discovered a Viking artifact on a family vacation.Gotland County Administrative Board

On his walk to the beach, Bruno Tillema noticed an intriguing object and picked it up, according to a press statement from the Gotland County Administrative Board dated September 8.

"I just picked it up from the ground and thought, 'What is this?' " Tillema told the Board. "'Maybe some weird part from a house?' I went looking for fossils. Then mother came and asked what I had in my hand. Then I said, 'Some strange metal thing.'"

Andreas Tillema, Bruno's father, said in an interview with Newsweek that he and his wife had just handed Bruno a book about fossils and that as a result, he was "actively scanning the ground with his eyes."

To clarify what Bruno had found, the family talked to a relative who is an archaeologist.

"A video call later, it stood clear what [it] was," Andreas said.

An animal head-shaped bronze belt buckle from the Viking Age, which lasted between 800-1100 AD, was discovered by Bruno.

To report the relic, the Tillemas got in touch with the county government.

A second artifact, a ring buckle, was discovered after the Gotland museum conducted an investigation of the location.

Bronze was used to make both buckles. During the late Iron Age or the early Viking Age, they were applied on costumes.

Ring buckles were used for both men's and women's burials in Gotland, although animal head buckles were primarily found on women's graves. The Board stated that the buckle-related burials were presumably burned.

The National Antiquities Office will decide whether to display the buckles in a collection after the buckles have been maintained.

"I'm a little happy to be able to do it," Bruno said. "It feels like I've done something big and now I can share it with you."

According to Andreas, his son is pleased to finally share this tale, as he told Newsweek.

"We were asked to keep it a secret until the site was properly examined," Andreas said. "He has even started thinking about becoming an archaeologist when he grows up. His dream is to find a T. Rex skull."

The National Antiquities Office makes the decision about finder rewards.