In Hoogwoud, a city in the Netherlands, a 27-year-old historian named Lorenzo Ruijter struck medieval gold with his metal detector.

More specifically, he found four crescent-moon-shaped gold pendant earrings, two gold leaf pieces that fit together, and thirty-nine small, precious silver coins, all from the Middle Ages, the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities announced.

The museum dates the gold treasure back to roughly A.D. 1050.

Ruijter has been metal detecting for most of his life and now it's paid off big time.

"It was very special discovering something this valuable, I can't really describe it. I never expected to discover anything like this," Ruijter said

The exact date of burial can pinpointed, thanks to the coins. "The youngest copies were struck in 1247 or 1248, under William II as king of the Holy Roman Empire," at which time the jewelry would have been roughly 200 years old.

The museum states that the jewelry must have been a much-loved object of its owner, given its rarity and beauty. "Golden jewelry from the High Middle Ages is extremely rare in the Netherlands," the museum said.

While it will remain a mystery why exactly the treasure was buried, the museum pointed out there was a war raging between Dutch regions West Friesland and Holland in the middle of the 13th century, with Hoogwoud being the epicentre. Thus, it's reasonable to believe that someone buried the valuables in order to protect them, with the intention of returning to dig them up later.

The treasure trove is currently on display at the museum, but will remain the official property of Lorenzo Ruijter.