The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) stated on Thursday that a historian in the country had discovered an exceptional, 1,000-year-old medieval golden treasure that included four gold ear pendants, two strips of gold leaf, and 39 silver coins.

Using a metal detector, Lorenzo Ruijter, 27, who told Reuters he has been searching for treasure since he was 10 years old, found the treasure in 2021 in the little northern city of Hoogwoud.

"I honestly don't know how to convey how special it was to find something this priceless. Ruijter remarked, "I never anticipated to find anything like this, and it was hard to keep it a secret for two years.

However, it took time for experts at the National Museum of Antiquities to clean, examine, and date the treasure's objects. They have now discovered that the most recent coin can be dated to around 1250, leading them to believe the treasure was buried at that time.

Part of the 1000-year-old medieval treasure discovered in Hoogwoud, Netherlands, consisting of jewelry and silver coins. Credit: Archeologie West-Friesland/Reuters

The jewelry was two centuries old at that point, the museum claimed, and it must have already been "an expensive and prized possession."

The museum added that "golden jewelry from the High Middle Ages is extremely rare in the Netherlands."

Even though the reason for the treasure's burial is still a mystery, the museum noted that Hoogwoud served as the focal point of a conflict between the Dutch provinces of West Friesland and Holland in the middle of the 13th century.

The museum said it was rare to find golden jewelry from the High Middle Ages in the country. Credit: Archeologie West-Friesland/Reuters

Ruijter suggested that it's probable that a strong person at the time buried the priceless items in order to secure them and, ideally, recover them once the situation was safe once more.

Given its importance for archaeology, the treasure was loaned to the institution that would show it, but it will continue to be Lorenzo Ruijter's property in official capacity.