My first day at the Nationalmuseet where I am being looked after by Lisbeth Imer, an expert on runic inscriptions. It has been fascinating learning about danefæ (treasure trove), which I have had the opportunity to discuss with curators in both the medieval (c.1000 onwards) and coins departments. Here any object which is danefæ (i.e. dating to before 1536 and selective items thereafter) is acquired, and the finder is payed a reward (not necessarily equal to its market value). Coin finds are acquired by the national museum, whilst many other finds end up in various local museums. Amazingly, museums do not have to bid for funding to acquire finds (as is the case in the UK) - the state simply supplies the cash! It obviously saves the curators lots of work…

Since the danefæ dates back 1241 it seems pretty fairly ingrained in the Danish consciousness that history is important, finds should be reported and the best place for them is in public collections.

Danish fact: not everything costs lots of money in Denmark – lunch in the Nationalmuseet canteen cost only 17Kr (about 2 quid).

This afternoon Anne Pedersen and myself discussed the potential for detector finds to advance archaeological knowledge of the C10th to C12th. It is readily apparent much more could be done to understand the stylistic influences on metalwork on both sides of the North Sea at this time.

This evening I crossed the ‘sea-lanes’ to Geatland. There, at Malmo Cathedral they were celebrating the festival of St Lucy (picture), which seems to be a cross between a carol service and Christingle. Unlike Beowulf, I crossed back into Denmark unchallenged by the Shieldings’ lookout…