In December 2020 a metal detector beeped in a field near Vindelev, only a few kilometres from Jelling. What came to light was a gold treasure of world rank: almost a kilogram of gold, including the largest gold bracteates ever found – and on one of them a tiny line of runes that made researchers sit up. It may be the oldest known mention of the god Odin.
The detectorist Ole Ginnerup Schytz had had the device only a few hours when it first signalled. Barely ten centimetres below the surface lay an ensemble of 23 gold objects of the Migration Period – made in the 5th and early 6th centuries, long before the Viking Age. Together the cleaned pieces weighed about 794 grams. Later, excavation showed that the gold once lay inside a large longhouse, the seat of a mighty and hitherto unknown prince.
The hoard unites Roman gold coins (solidi of the emperors Constantine, Constans, Valentinian and Gratian), sixteen gold bracteates – thin, single-sided gold medals to be worn as pendants – and the gold fittings of a sword scabbard. And these bracteates are extraordinary: the largest piece, X10, measures almost 14 centimetres across and weighs over 120 grams – the largest gold bracteate in the world. The archaeologist Morten Axboe placed the find on a par with the Golden Horns of Gallehus.
The real wonder, though, is tiny. On one of the bracteates a runic inscription in the Elder Futhark runs around the image. In 2023 the runologist Lisbeth Imer and the linguist Krister Vasshus deciphered part of it:
“… iz Wōd[a]nas weraz” – “He is Wodan's (Odin's) man.” Inscription of a Vindelev bracteate, around 500 AD (reading Imer/Vasshus 2023)
If the reading is correct, this is the oldest known mention of the god Odin at all – older than the famous Nordendorf fibula of the 6th century. This pushes belief in Odin back many generations, deep into the time before the Vikings. On other bracteates stand the magic words alu and laþu, associated with cult and invocation. More on the rune rows is in our rune overview.
Interesting is what Imer and Vasshus conclude from the inscription. For a long time the doctrine held that the crowned heads on the bracteates showed gods, above all Odin. But “he is Odin's man” sounds rather like a human who professes himself to Odin – a follower, not the god himself. So the images might mean princes or kings who surrounded themselves with divine radiance. An honest interim result: the name Odin is there, but who is depicted on the gold remains disputed.
Why bury such a treasure? Some bracteates were carefully folded before burial – which speaks for a deliberate offering. The find falls in a troubled time: around 536 volcanic eruptions darkened the sun for years, followed by crop failures and famine. This catastrophe perhaps echoes in the myth of the Fimbulwinter, the great winter before Ragnarök. Perhaps the most precious gold was offered to plead for better times. What is certain: here a mighty one buried half his fortune – and a god's name with it.
The Vindelev hoard was found in 2020 near Vindelev (close to Jelling, eastern Jutland): 23 gold objects of the Migration Period (5th/6th c.), about 794 g, including 16 bracteates (X10 = largest in the world, ~14 cm/123 g), four Roman solidi and a sword-scabbard fitting. The gold lay in the area of a longhouse/lordly seat. In 2023 Imer and Vasshus read on one bracteate “iz Wōd[a]nas weraz” – “He is Odin's man” – the oldest known mention of Odin so far. Other bracteates bear the formula words alu and laþu.
“The oldest Odin has been found” is true at its core but oversimplified: what is attested is the god's name in an inscription, not an image of the god. Precisely because it says “Odin's man,” the discoverers argue that the heads on the bracteates show princes rather than gods. The reading, too, is a matter of scholarly debate: others read the runes as “horaz” (the beloved). The find and the formula words are certain – the exact interpretation remains in flux.
Odin · The Golden Horns of Gallehus · Runes & their meaning · The silver figurine from Lejre · Thyra Danebod – Denmark's mightiest woman.