Rev Dr David Bartholomew’s treasure reflection
I first met Derek McLennan last summer when he and his
friends were detecting on the fields near my manse in St
John’s Town of Dalry. I have detected on those fields
over many years and had some nice finds; but I was
amazed at what they still managed to pull out of them.
Earlier this year I heard that they had made some
interesting finds on church land in a nearby parish –
notably of old communion tokens and Scottish medieval
coins, but also of a small silver ingot that had been
confirmed as Viking. For some time I had been keen to
have the chance to detect there myself and on 1st
September Derek invited me to join him. It turned out he
had also invited along Mike Smith, pastor of the local
Elim Pentecostal Church – so here we were, two
ministers on our day off swinging our detectors alongside
Derek.
It was a lovely day and we set off with anticipation. The
lads seemed to have done a pretty good job of clearing
any metal items out of the soil and any targets were few
and far between. Then an hour and a half after we arrived
there Derek began gesticulating wildly with excitement
and we headed quickly towards him. He was holding a
beautiful Viking silver arm ring in his hand and was
practically speechless. He put his hand in the hole again
and pulled out a large silver ingot and then another arm
ring. We knew he had found something exceptional and
left him to enlarge the hole slightly to ascertain what he
had discovered, in order to properly describe the find to
archaeologists. When we came back we found he had
carefully excavated down and discovered a cluster of
ingots and arm rings about two feet down. And then,
what took our breath away – we saw a silver cross
poking out from beneath the pile, with a delicate wound
silver chain attached to it. At that point we knew we had
to call an archaeologist to take over the recording and
lifting of the hoard Derek had found. By the time he
eventually came some of Derek’s detectorist friends had
also joined us. Andy, the county archaeologist,
proceeded to enlarge the hole and we helped with sieving
of the soil. He then recorded carefully each item as it was
lifted. When he came to the bottom of the pile we
watched with excitement as he lifted the cross with great
care and turned it over to reveal rich decoration, a work
of great beauty and symbolism. Andy was convinced that
we had recovered the hoard, but our detectors told us
otherwise; and sure enough, four inches lower down we
came across a larger hoard which we soon realised, at the
very least, was going to rewrite the history of Viking
influence in our part of Scotland.
We have hardly started to answer all the questions
thrown up by Derek’s spectacular find. But it would
seem that we have artefacts from the earliest days of the
church in our land. This may be the earliest silver cross
of its size found in Britain and may well have originated
on Lindisfarne, or even Iona. Another artefact of great
beauty is a four inch long gold pin topped by what Derek
and his partner Sharon consider is a cormorant-like bird.
They believe that it may have been a pointer stick used
with the illuminated manuscripts on Lindisfarne. I see the
hoard as being a window into these troubled times – the
creation of items of great beauty and their burial in times
of warfare and destruction.
We read in the gospels about the kingdom of heaven
being like a treasure hidden in a field or a pearl of great
price (Matthew 13.44-45). We are filled with wonder as
we contemplate these beautiful artefacts and we
speculate on who owned them and how they came to be
hidden there in this field so many centuries ago. They
can be a picture of the riches of our inheritance in Christ
(Ephesians 1.3-10, 3.16-19) which lies waiting to be
discovered, and is passed over by so many in our land
unaware of the treasures of God’s grace so freely
available to them. So many in our society drift along on
the surface of life and don’t dig down to find a higher
meaning and purpose for their lives. We marvel at what
has been buried beneath our feet for so many centuries
and is now revealing its secrets to us. But God has even
greater riches to reveal to us as we press in to know him.
And the reality also is that I find a real tension and
conflict within myself as I reflect on the hoard. I have a
fascination with history and trying to imagine what life
was like in times past. Metal detecting feeds that
fascination as it throws up artefacts all the time that are a
material connection with people of earlier days. But we
are called on by Christ not to store up treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in
and steal (Matthew 6.19). The tension is that this earthly
treasure can divert me from my primary calling to share
the love of Christ with a needy world. The excitement of
this amazing discovery and all the speculations and
theorising that spin out from it can too easily deflect me
from giving my time to the people I am called to minister
amongst. I must not forget that we are called to store up
treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal. ‘For where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ (Matt.
6.21). I must not forget the greater treasure that needs to
be made known. The Danish Vikings had not discovered
that treasure when they buried the hoard, but in the
centuries that followed they came to embrace Christ for
themselves. How I long that the people of our nation
might turn again to embrace the living Christ in whom is
life in all its fullness.
David
Bartholomew