Cache of Bronze Age Shields Found in Sweden
STOCKHOLM — Archeologists have excavated 17 bronze shields offered to the gods about 3,000 years ago in the biggest such find in Europe, experts said Wednesday.
“This is a find that would earn a place in the British Museum or in the Louvre,” said Ulf-Erik Hagberg of the regional museum in Lidkoping, 155 miles southwest of Stockholm.
The 17 bronze shields were lowered into a lake--now farmland--in a sacrificial offering during the Nordic Bronze Age between 1500 BC and 500 BC, Hagberg said.
Farmer Bert Ivarsson found two shields in the field while plowing last fall and notified the regional museum. Archeologists last week unearthed 15 more shields and said they hope to find more.
“We don’t know where this will end,” Hagberg said.
About 30 Bronze Age shields have previously been recovered in Europe, including nine in Denmark and one in Sweden.
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