Massive Viking treasure horde discovered HOW?!?

A British man has found the largest collection of Viking artifacts ever in Scotland, using-of all things--a metal detector.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Derek McLennan found the trove on land belonging to the Church of Scotland in the area of Dumfries and Galloway, having searched for over a year.

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There were over a hundred artifacts found, including a metal vessel which contains even more objects, silver arm-rings and ingots, and an early Christian cross made of solid silver which is thought to date back to the Ninth or Tenth centuries and has unusual markings which may represent the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

Currently the artifacts are being held in the care of the Treasure Trove Unit, which has designated the find as being of significant international importance. McLennan is also in negotiations for an appropriate finders fee.

"I believe they resemble the carvings you can see on the remnants of St. Cuthbert's coffin in Durham Cathedral," McLennan said of the cross.

"For me, the cross opens up the possibility of an intriguing connection with Lindisfarne and Iona."

The area was first excavated by Andrew Nicholson, the local archaeologist, and afterward McLennan discovered the signal with his detector at the base. The signal led to an even larger treasure trove, including the largest silver pot from the Carolingian dynasty ever discovered, and could be 1,200-years-old.

"We still don't know exactly what is in the pot, but I hope it could reveal who these artifacts belonged to, or at least where they came from," said McLennan.

McLennan made his discovery in September, while he was partaking in his hobby with two local members of the church-Rev. Dr. David Bartholomew, a minister of the Church of Scotland, and Mike Smith, the pastor of Pentecostal Church in Galloway.

"We were searching elsewhere when Derek initially thought he'd discovered a Viking gaming piece," Bartholomew said.

"A short time later he ran over to us waving a silver arm-ring and shouting 'Viking'. It was tremendously exciting, especially when we noticed the silver cross lying face-downwards."

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