A city archaeologist has found a gold ring from the 14th or 15th century during the Binnenhof renovation, on the Achterhof square behind the Ridderzaal.
Mignonne Lenoir spotted it glinting in the soil a day after saying in an interview that gold was what she most wanted to find.
She joked that she now has to hand in her resignation.
The ring is small, 16.5 millimetres across, with eight compartments on the outside: seven hold letters and the eighth a flower marking where the word begins.
The medieval letters differ from the modern alphabet, and a volunteer on the archaeology team who likes puzzles finally deciphered them.
The word is stadich, roughly continually, persistently or steadfastly, which Lenoir says points to a promise of loyalty.
The wearer is unknown: the small size could fit a woman, a man’s little finger or a child, and Lenoir suspects a wedding ring.
It lay relatively high in soil used to fill a former moat, so it is unclear how it got there.
It is on show for now at the Binnenhof renovation information centre at Plaats 22, before returning to the team for research.
