The Aunslev Cross may be about to change Danish history. Photo: Østfyns Museer 
 
 A cross discovered by an amateur Danish archaeologist may "change history" according to an expert, who believes the cross may date from before Christianity is thought to have reached Denmark. 
 
 An amateur archaeologist on the island of Funen made a startling discovery last week – a necklace resembling Jesus on the cross. But after posting a picture of the discovery on Facebook, Dennis Fabricius Holm quickly found that the item may have a lot more significance than he had initially thought. 
 
 “I finished work early last Friday, so I decided to spend a couple of hours searching with my metal detector,” Holm told national broadcaster DR. 
 
 “Suddenly I hit upon something,” continued Holm. “Ever since I turned over the clump of earth and saw the cross, I’ve been unable to think of anything else.” 
 
 Malene Refshauge Beck, archaeologist with East Funen Museums (Østfyns Museer) told DR that she agreed that the necklace is likely to prove a memorable discovery. 
 
 “This is a sensational find that dates from the first half of the 10th century BCE,” Beck told DR. “There is a near identical figure, found in Sweden, which has been dated to this period.” 
 
 The discovery of Christian artefacts from this period in Denmark is particularly remarkable as it predates the Jelling Stone, the giant carved rune stone from the year 965 that is considered to be the earliest Danish representation of Jesus on the cross. 
 
 “This figure may therefore result in us reconsidering the date Danes are believed to have become Christian,” said Beck. “The person who wore it would undoubtedly have adhered to the Christian faith.” 
 
 While pieces from the period depicting crosses as well as fragments of a piece of jewellery that appeared to depict Jesus have been discovered in the past, the new find is by far the most well-preserved and clear, according to Beck. 
 
 The figure will now be further examined at the museum and will go on display at the Ladby Viking Museum this summer. ||||| The 1100 year old "Christ from Aunslev" will be exhibited at Vikingemuseet Ladby through easter 2016. 
 
 On Friday March 11th something very special appeared from the ground in a field near Aunslev at Eastern Funen. Dennis Fabricius Holm was out searching with his metal detector and made an exceptional find. Immediately he contacted the archaeologist at Østfyns Museer, Malene Beck. 
 
 Dennis had found a small gold pendant, 4,1 cm in height, in the shape of a man with outstretched arms – the image of Christ. The figure is made of fine articulated goldthreads and small filigree pellets and weighs around 13,2 grams. The reverse side is smooth. At the top a small eye for the chain is mounted. The cross looks a lot like the gilded silver cross found in 1879 in Birka near Stockholm in Sweden, in a female grave from the Viking Age. (grave 660). 
 
 The Aunslev cross is the first Danish specimen in full figure. Earlier there has been found fragments from similar crosses in Denmark: in the newly found silver hoard at Omø and in a Viking Age wagonbody burial at Ketting on the island Als, where all the fragments are of silver. The fragment of a hand from the Omø hoard , dated to the late 10th century, looks a little different. It lacks the thumb and has ornaments on the reverse side. The silver crosses from Ketting and Birka are both found in what is believed to be female graves, dated to the first half of the 10th century. So far that makes the Aunslev cross the only one found in a “bare field”. It’s pure luck, that the little jewelry has survived the last 1100 years in the earth. It was probably worn by a Viking woman, but it cannot yet be decided, whether the cross was to show, that she was a Christian Viking or was just a part of a pagan Viking’s bling-bling. For the time being, the Aunslev cross is dated to the first half of the 10th century, which makes it one of the oldest Christian crosses from Denmark and even older than Harald Bluetooth’s runic stone in Jelling. 
 
 Today the Aunslev Church lies solitary west of the village Aunslev. In the fields around the church, where the cross is found, there has been found several fine objects. Together the finds suggest, that the church has not always been lying alone. Once there was probably a Viking settlement here, which might have formed the basis of an early church. There has also been a runic stone at the site. According to the narrative, the stone was found just south of the church in 1623. In 1652 it was brought to Copenhagen, where it was destroyed in the big fire in Copenhagen in 1728. The inscription reads: “…stands this stone. Ro…placed…og Roulv made…Stone belongs to the group of “Roulv stones”.” 
 
 The Aunslev Cross will be on exhibition at Vikingemuseet Ladby from Friday March 18th and during the Easter holiday and will then be sent to preservation. In the summer it will be part of an exhibition in the museum, which shows some of the exiting Viking Age finds, found with metal detector, from Eastern Funen. ||||| An amateur metal detector has made a discovery that experts think could change our understanding of Christianity in Denmark. 
 
 Dennis Fabricius Holm was enjoying an afternoon off work when he found a Birka crucifix pendant in a field near the town of Aunslev, Østfyn. 
 
 “I got off early on Friday, so I took just a few hours, I went around with my metal detector and then I came suddenly on something,” Mr Holm told DK. 
 
 “Since I cleared the mud and saw the jewellery, I have not been able to think of anything else.” 
 
 On posting the find to social media, other users encouraged him to take it to a museum. 
 
 Malene Refshauge Beck, curator and archaeologist at Østfyns Museum said: “It is an absolutely sensational discovery that is from the first half of the 900s [10th century].” 
 
 “There is found an almost identical figure in Sweden, which has been dated to just this period.” 
 
 However, this specimen is in especially good condition and one of the most well preserved Christian artefacts found in Denmark. 
 
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 Weighing just 13.2 grams and 4.1cm in length, the figure is made of finely articulated goldthreads and tiny fillagree pellets. 
 
 It is smooth on the reverse side but has a small eye at the top for a chain. 
 
 It was probably worn by a Viking woman. 
 
 The dating of the crucifix, estimated at being from 900 – 950AD, is significant because it would indicate Danes embraced Christianity earlier than previously thought. 
 
 At the moment, the Jelling Stones - two large runestones erected in 965AD in Jutland - are thought to be the oldest known representation of Jesus on a cross in Denmark. 
 
 The stones, in the town of Jelling, commemorate Harald Bluetooth’s conversion of the Danes to Christianity. 
 
 Christian missionaries had been present in the country for around two hundred years before then, but had failed to convert the Vikings. 
 
 However, pressures from Christian trade partners to convert, and in particular, influence from the Kingdom of Germany to the south, meant that most Danes were Christian by the end of the Viking period in 1050. 
 
 “The figure can therefore help to advance the time when one considers that the Danes really were Christians,” said Ms Beck. 
 
 “Simply because one can say that the person who carried it here no doubt embraced the Christian faith.” 
 
 The impact of the find is such that the historical record of the country will need to be adjusted. 
 
 “This is a subject that certainly will have to appear in the history books in the future,” said Ms Beck. 
 
 “In recent years there has been more and more signs that Christianity was widespread earlier than previously thought - and here the clearest evidence so far.” 
 
 And as for the amateur archaeologist? 
 
 “I’ve hardly slept!” Mr Holm said to TV2 / Fyn. 
 
 “It has been very overwhelming. I have not yet grasped that find’s influence on Denmark's history. 
 
 “It is hard to comprehend.” ||||| Metal detectorist Dennis Fabricius Holm made a pretty sweet find yesterday: the third known Birka crucifix. 
 
 These little wonders of 10th century goldsmith work are named for the first find, made in 1879 when Hjalmar Stolpe excavated in the cemeteries of Birka near Stockholm. In addition to the crucifix grave 660 contained, among other things, two other fine silver filigree pendants and a bronze-capped iron wand that may have served pagan religious purposes. 
 
 In 2012 Silke Eisenschmidt identified fragments of a second Birka crucifix among the finds from a wagon burial at Ketting, excavated by Jens Raben in 1927. This is on the island of Als on the south-east coast of Jutland, just across the sound from Funen, and the new find is from Nyborg municipality on the east coast of that island. (I was there for a castle conference last August.) The two Danish sites are less than a day’s sailing and rowing from the town of Hedeby, which suggests to me that this is where all three crucifixes were made. They’re too similar for more than one or two people to have been making them. Birka and Hedeby seems to have shared an itinerant population of craftspeople and traders. 
 
 Many thanks to Dennis for letting me publish his photographs! Note that by not cleaning the find thoroughly, Dennis is doing the right thing: this is a job for the finds conservator. 
 
 Update 13 March: My friend and collaborator Tobias Bondesson alerted me to a piece of filigreed hack silver from the Omø hoard that looks a lot like the right hand of a fourth Birka crucifix. It’s different from its siblings in being decorated on the reverse and having no thumb, but to my eye there’s little else this fragment could be from. The hoard was buried during the reign of Sweyn Forkbeard, 986–1014. It was found by detectorist Robert Hemming Poulsen in September of 2015. Omø is a small island between Funen and Zealand, not far across the water from Nyborg, which neatly reinforces the distribution we have begun to discern for the type. ||||| En fynsk fritidsarkæolog har på en mark ved den lille by Aunslev på Østfyn fundet en helt unikt hængesmykke forestillende Jesus på korset. 
 
 - Jeg havde tidligt fri i fredags, så jeg tog lige et par timer, hvor jeg gik rundt med min metaldetektor - og så stødte jeg pludselig på noget. Siden jeg fik vendt den jordklump og kunne se smykket, har jeg ikke kunnet tænke på andet, siger fynske Dennis Fabricius Holm. 
 
 Da vikingerne blev kristne Allerede i 700-800-tallet kom de første kristne missionærer til Danmark, men de havde svært ved at overbevise vikingerne. 
 
 Men i løbet af 900-tallet lod mange sig omvende. Til dels fordi handel med kristne lande blev nemmere, men især også på grund af et stigende politisk og religiøst pres fra det tyske rige i syd, som man ønskede at holde sig gode venner med. 
 
 Omkring år 1050 var de fleste vikinger blevet kristne. De blev døbt, gik i kirke og blev begravet på kristen vis. Kilde: Nationalmuseet 
 
 Han er til daglig er i lære som anlægsgartner og kun har gået med detektor i et par måneder. 
 
 Han lagde et billede af smykket på en Facebooksidefor folk med interesse for metaldetektor-søgning - og fik via talrige lykønskninger hurtigt bekræftet, at han fået fat i noget særligt. 
 
 Museumsinspektør og arkæolog ved Østfyns Museer Malene Refshauge Beck er enig i, at fundet er meget specielt: 
 
 - Det er et helt sensationelt fund, som er fra første halvdel af 900-tallet. Der er nemlig fundet en næsten helt identisk figur i Sverige, som har kunnet dateres til netop denne periode, siger hun. 
 
 Den ældste afbilding af Jesus 
 
 Dateringen til mellem år 900 og 950 gør figuren er særlig, fordi den dermed er ældre endden store Jellingsten, der vurderes at være fra år 965, som ellers hidtil har båret den tidligste afbilding af Jesus på korset, som vi kender i Danmark. 
 
 - Figuren kan derfor være med til at rykke tidspunktet for, hvornår man mener, at danerne egentlig blev kristne. Simpelthen fordi, man kan sige, at personen, der har båret det her, uden tvivl har bekendt sig til den kristne tro, siger Malene Refshauge Beck. 
 
 Der er fundet tidligere tegn på kristendom i Danmark i form af eksempelvis smykker med kors - og tilmed stumper af et lignende Jesus-smykke - men det her er det absolut mest velbevarede og tydelige, vurderer Malene Refshauge Beck. 
 
 Historiebøger skal måske ændres 
 
 Hun pointerer, at bøger om danmarkshistorien sandsynligvis vil skulle ændres efter fundet. 
 
 - Det her er en genstand, der helt sikkert vil være nødt til at figurere i historiebøgerne fremover. I de seneste år er der kommet flere og flere tegn på, at kristendommen blev udbredt tidligere, end hidtil antaget - og det her det tydeligste bevis indtil videre, siger hun. 
 
 Fritidsarkæolog Dennis Fabricius Holm er stadig "lidt i chok" over sit fund: 
 
 - Det er underligt, at mit navn nu vil blive forbundet med noget, der tilsyneladende er så vigtigt. Jeg tror ikke helt, at det er sivet ind endnu. 
 
 Figuren skal nu undersøges af Østfyns Museum og vil blive udstillet på Vikingemuseet Ladby til sommer. 
 
 https://www.facebook.com/DRNyheder/posts/1139002299483626 ||||| - Jeg har haft smykket liggende under hovedpuden. Jeg har næsten ikke sovet. 
 
 Det fortæller Dennis Fabricius Holm til TV2 / Fyn. 
 
 Han fik en brat opvågning, da han efter kun et par uger som amatør-arkæolog på en mark ved hjembyen Aunslev på Østfyn svingede sin metal-detektor hen over et smykke. At han havde fundet et unikt stykke Danmarks-historie gik ikke op for ham før han delte et billede af sit fund på Facebook. 
 
 Smykke trykprøvet 
 
 Venner på det sociale medie var ikke i tvivl og opfordrede ham til at henvende sig til det nærmeste museum. 
 
 - Det har været meget overvældende. Jeg har endnu ikke fattet, at fundet har indflydelse på Danmarks-historien. Det er svært at begribe, fortæller Dennis Fabricius Holm. 
 
 Sensationelt fund 
 
 Dennis Fabricius Holm henvendte sig til Vikingemuseet Ladby og afleverede smykket. Og museumsinspektør og arkæolog ved Østfyns Museer, Malene Refshauge Beck, er ikke tvivl om, at hans fund er meget specielt: 
 
 - Det er et helt sensationelt fund, som er fra første halvdel af 900-tallet. Der er nemlig fundet en næsten helt identisk figur i Sverige, som har kunnet dateres til netop denne periode. Den fynske figur kan være med til at rykke tidspunktet for, hvornår man mener, at danerne blev kristne, siger hun til DR Historie. 
 
 Malene Refshauge Beck skal nu til undersøge smykket nærmere. Blandt andet har hun en formodning at det er den samme smykkesmed, som har lavet begge smykker. 
 
 Dennis Fabricius Holms smykke afbilleder Jesus hængende på korset. 
 
 Det kan dateres til mellem år 900 og 950 og det gør smykket særligt, fordi det således er ældre end Jellingstenen, der vurderes at være fra år 965. Jellingstenen har hidtil båret den tidligste afbilding af Jesus på korset, som vi kender i Danmark. 
 
 Smykket vil blive udstillet på Vikingemuseet Ladby til sommer.
– Denmark's Dennis Fabricius Holm got off work early on March 11 and decided to go for a stroll with his metal detector near the town of Aunslev. "Suddenly I hit upon something," he tells national broadcaster DR, per the Local. "Ever since I turned over the clump of earth and saw the cross, I've been unable to think of anything else." Holm had indeed made "an absolutely sensational discovery," says archaeologist Malene Beck of the Ostfyns Museum. The 1.5-inch-tall pendant, complete with gold threads and filigree pellets, features the image of an open-armed man and is almost identical to a silver crucifix found in Sweden, visible here. A release speculates it was worn by a Viking woman. The Independent calls it "one of the most well preserved Christian artifacts found in Denmark," but its date, AD900 to AD950, is what most intrigues experts. Christian missionaries were known to be in Denmark in the eighth century, but the oldest known depiction of Jesus on a cross in Denmark—on what is known as the Jelling Stones—didn't appear until AD965. It was believed to signify the start of the conversion of the Danes, most of whom were Christian by 1050. But since the pendant predates the Jelling Stones by at least 15 years, it "can therefore help to advance the time when one considers that the Danes really were Christians," Beck says. "The person who wore it would undoubtedly have adhered to the Christian faith." She adds the find is so significant that the history books will need to be rewritten. "I have not yet grasped that find's influence on Denmark's history," Holm tells TV2. "It is hard to comprehend." (Last year, a man with a metal detector uncovered Nazi-era treasure.)