Two lances discovered near the village of Boeslunde on Zealand represent the earliest known examples of iron workmanship in Denmark.
In August 2025, a team of archaeologists from the Museum Vestsjælland were conducting an excavation of a Bronze Age site, when Lone Claudi-Hansen unearthed a mysterious metal object.
“I could see immediately that it was something truly special. It felt like my head was going to explode,” she describes in an interview. The object, a piece of iron with decorative gold ornaments was found in a Bronze Age context.
Upon closer inspect, the object was revealed to be a gold-plated lance, but even more astonishing, the excavation soon uncovered a second lance with a nearly identical spearhead.
Subsequent studies have dated both artefacts to around 2,800 years ago, making them the earliest known examples of iron workmanship in Denmark.
Both lances, originally about 60 centimetres in length, are heavily corroded; however, fragments of gold remain clearly visible on both the shafts and the spearheads.
According to Claudi-Hansen, no parallels exist anywhere in Northern Europe. Comparable iron lances have been found as far away as Greece and Central Europe, but none are gold-plated.
The historic discovery also solves a different mystery: why the surrounding fields had yielded a remarkable number of gold artefacts over recent decades, including ten gold oath rings and more than 2,000 gold spirals. The answer emerged in the same dig.
“We found remains of a sacred Bronze Age spring,” Claudi-Hansen explains. “This allows us to link the gold finds to religious offerings. It provides a unique insight into life in ancient Denmark—and especially ancient Skælskør.”
Header Image Credit : Museum West Zealand
Sources : Museum Vestsjælland
