What a discovery!
Some people look for amber on their vacation, others for beautiful stones and shells. Carlo Bast (27) has been more ambitious since his childhood and goes out with a geologist’s hammer, paper and storage containers to look for fossils. It is his great hobby.
But now he has made the “most valuable find ever,” as he explains on Facebook. A beach find from the chalk coast of Rügen. “It’s not something you just find, and certainly not on the beach.”
The holidaymaker from Mittweida (Saxony) shared his discovery in a Facebook group. “It is gold jewelry from the 1st or 2nd century AD, a so-called Berlock,” he explains.
“These have so far been discovered as grave goods belonging to presumably wealthy women of a Germanic tribe. Complete specimens are rare, but for this location the piece of jewelry is in very good condition, despite visible damage.”
A discovery that also attracted the attention of historians and the press. “I had pushed the stones on the ground a little to the side with my foot. Suddenly something golden shimmered between the stones,” Bast reported to the “Nordkurier”.
He picked up the find and suddenly had the gold pendant in his hand. “At first I thought it was jewelry that someone had recently lost there or that it was something to weigh down a tablecloth.”
After some research, the farmer found out what he was really holding in his hand: a Berlock, a historical piece of jewelry. He contacted the State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and sent pictures to an employee.
“You should report your finds, even if you are not sure. The find is then recorded. Depending on what it is, you may have to hand over your discovery.”
The office confirms that the find is of “outstanding regional historical significance”. The piece of jewelry represents “a prime example of the craftsmanship of metalworkers in the early Roman imperial period (1st/2nd century AD)”.
Bast handed over his sensational discovery to the authorities and now hopes that it will soon be on display in a museum. “Of course I would be delighted if it were back with me at some point. But I have no hope of that. It is and remains a great find. That alone is reward enough.”
By Martin Gätke (mg)
The original of this article ““Suddenly something golden shimmered”: Vacationer makes sensational discovery on Baltic Sea beach” comes from Express.de.