On Monday morning, archaeologist Aaron Johnston sealed a small bronze figure of Christ in an acid-free box cushioned with archival paper and placed it in his refrigerator before handing it to the cultural heritage office in Molde. The statuette, thought to be about 800 years old, will move to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim for metallurgical and iconographic study, where specialists will examine its alloy, gilding, and wear patterns to learn whether it once adorned a processional cross, a reliquary, or another liturgical object.
The chain of events began late last week when hobby metal-detectorist Kim Erik Fylling Dybvik and research partner Warren Schmidt finished an unproductive day in a plowed field at Oksvoll in Ørland municipality. “We had spent the whole day crossing the area with little results,” said Dybvik, according to Enikos. As dusk approached, his detector emitted a strong signal. Near the surface lay a palm-sized, gilded bronze Christ with outstretched arms. “That moment was one of the greatest of my life. My pulse went right up,” he said.
Dybvik phoned Johnston, the on-call field archaeologist for Møre og Romsdal County Municipality. “I was just about to have dinner, but I jumped in the car,” said Johnston, according to NRK Forhold. Within fifteen minutes he arrived, illuminated the site with his car headlights, logged GPS coordinates, took measurements and photographs, and advised the discoverers not to handle the metal. “It’s important not to let the metal dry out or to handle it too much,” he added.
The field lay only a few hundred meters from the documented location of a vanished medieval church. “Such a concentration of finds is not random,” said Dybvik, adding that earlier discoveries hint at “forgotten layers of ecclesiastical and domestic life.” Archaeologists planned a ground-penetrating radar survey to search for buried structural remains, possibly including the church foundations.
Earlier that day Dybvik had unearthed a Roman silver coin bearing Emperor Antoninus Pius, minted between 138 and 161 CE. “A dream find for me. It is very rare,” he said, according to NRK Forhold. Former county conservator Bjørn Ringstad confirmed it was the first coin of its type recorded in Møre og Romsdal. Minutes later a second coin appeared, tentatively identified as Viking Age and possibly depicting Harald Bluetooth. Danish numismatists and the Norwegian Metal Detector Association were collaborating to confirm the identification. If verified, it would be the first of its kind recovered in Norway, said Ringstad.
Ringstad reviewed photographs of the Christ figure within hours and called it “extremely unusual.” He warned that another plowing could have destroyed it. Johnston echoed that concern, calling the rescue “almost miraculous,” according to Enikos.
Specialists leaned toward a late-1100s or early-1200s date for the statuette, placing it in Norway’s High Middle Ages. Dybvik, who documents his outings on the Instagram account detecting_fjords, said his priority is preservation. “What matters is the rescue of objects before agricultural activity destroys them,” he told Enikos. “The hobby became a lifestyle. Almost an obsession,” he added.
“There is no doubt that Kim’s finds are very special,” said Ringstad, according to NRK Forhold.
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