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James Hyatt made the discovery while out with his father and grandfather in Hockley, Essex.
He had only been scanning the soil for a matter of minutes when it started beeping.
The trio, from Billericay, started digging and just eight inches deep, they saw a glint and found what they now know to be a 500-year-old gold pendant.
Dad Jason, 34, said: "James got a buzz after just five minutes. We saw a glint eight inches down and gently pulled the object out.
"Dad was blown away. He'd never found anything like it in 15 years doing his hobby.
"James was so excited to find treasure, though he's too young to realise its significance."
Experts believe the rare locket, or reliquary, dates back to the 1500s and was used to hold alleged parts of Christ's crown of thorns or crucifix.
James, who is now four, said: "I was holding the detector and it went beep, beep, beep.
"Then we dug into the mud. There was gold there. We didn't have a map - only pirates have treasure maps."
An inquest has declared the reliquary treasure trove and it could be bought for millions by an interested institution, including the British Museum.
Proceeds will be split with the family and the owner of the field where the pendant was found.
Meanwhile archaeologists in west London say they have discovered an entire Roman landscape beneath the surface of a listed estate.
The find at Syon Park includes a Roman road, settlement and Roman burials which have been lying undiscovered just half a metre below the ground for nearly two thousand years.
The remains were found during excavations by Museum of London Archaeology ahead of construction of a new hotel due to open in the grounds in 2011.
Jo Lyon, senior archaeologist at Museum of London Archaeology said, "We were extremely fortunate to discover such a comprehensive repertoire of Roman finds and features so close to the surface.
"They tell us a great deal about how the people of this village lived, worked and died.
"The archaeology at Syon Park has given us a valuable, rare insight into the daily life of an agricultural village on the outskirts of Londinium (London) that would have supplied the Roman city and provided shelter for travellers passing through.
"It helps us build a picture of the Roman landscape and shows how the busy metropolis of Londinium connected with the rest of Roman Britain."
Thousands of Roman artefacts were recovered from the site, including two shale armlets, fragments of a lava quernstone as well as a Late Bronze Age (1000-700 BC) gold bracelet from an earlier age.
More research is currently being carried out by the museum but the hotel is hoping to display some of the artefacts to guests when it opens next year.
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