HJARNØ, DENMARK—The Copenhagen Post reports that a metal detectorist discovered a collection of gold and pearl artifacts dated to about A.D. 500 on a small island off the east coast of Jutland. According to Mads Ravn of the Vejle Museum, local people probably obtained the gold from the Romans and then made it into jewelry and buried it, possibly as an offering to the gods. “They’ve probably been down there on a mission to plunder, so our little find is a reminder of a turbulent period in world history when gold spoke its own, very clear language,” he said. A volcanic eruption in El Salvador and the resulting ash cloud and climate change could have also prompted the burial of the treasure as an offering to the gods, Ravn added. For more on arcaheology in Denmark, go to “Bluetooth's Fortress.”