Slinky Nordic Treasures

Archaeologists have excavated a cluster of unusual gold spirals at a site in the Zealand region of eastern Denmark. Researchers from the Danish National Museum found 2,000 of the delicate, spring-like artifacts in a pair of concentrated deposits, preserved under layers of plowed soil. Flemming Kaul of the Danish National Museum says that it's not clear what the spirals meant or were used for, but that their purpose was probably ritualistic. Approximately 300 of them were found close to pitch fragments that suggest they had been placed in a wooden votive container.