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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,375 |
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
Swedish archaeologists have discovered a rare hoard of Viking-age silver Arab coins near Stockholm's Arlanda airport.
About 470 coins were found on 1 April at an early Iron Age burial site. They date from the 7th to 9th Century, when Viking traders travelled widely.
There has been no similar find in that part of Sweden since the 1880s.
Most of the coins were minted in Baghdad and Damascus, but some came from Persia and North Africa, said archaeologist Karin Beckman-Thoor.
The team from the Swedish National Heritage Board had just started removing a stone cairn at the site "when we suddenly found one coin and couldn't understand why it was there", she told the BBC News website.
"We continued digging and found more coins and realised it was a Viking-age hoard." The coins were left there in about AD850, she said.
Such Viking hoards usually come from Gotland - a large Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, she explained.
"No Viking was buried at this site - the grave is older. Maybe the Vikings thought the hoard would be protected by ancestors," Ms Beckman-Thoor added. Vikings had settled in a village nearby.
The Vikings travelled widely in their longships in the Baltic region and Russia from the late 8th to the 11th Century. They are known to have travelled as far as North Africa and Constantinople (now Istanbul).
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Pillar of the Community
 Egypt
3470 Posts |
 The Arab coins reveal where they were minted and the date Edited by EgCollector
04/07/2008 08:13 am
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
 Location of coins Edited by EgCollector
04/07/2008 08:47 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
Eg collector, is that a pic of some of the discovered coins?
I guess this is why I keep on detecting. There is a little treasure hunter in all of us.
Jim
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
Jim1953,
This article was sent to me by one of my friends, and the article included these pics. So I think,Yes, this is a pic of the discovered coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
That's an interesting story, thanks!
I haven't read of such a large hoard of Arab coins before, and suggest to me they were cached soon after they returned home. Otherwise the coins would have become more dispersed. There aren't any definitive theories as to why the Vikings left these caches in the earth. It may simply be a way to store and protect wealth, or it could be another sacrifice for religious reasons, which may include throwing valuable swords into lakes and rivers. In fact, I think experts like Zahi Hawass know more about the ancient Egyptian burial of wealth for the afterlife than any archaeologist understands as to why the Vikings buried so much gold and silver to never be used.
Edited by KurtS
04/07/2008 2:38 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
Edited by chrisild
04/08/2008 05:16 am
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
Thanks for the links chrisild
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1173 Posts |
It's always fun, dreaming of finding such a cache...whether it is over a thousand years old, or just a hundred. Can you imagine the thrill of finding 400+ silver coins buried for more than a millenium!
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Pillar of the Community
Egypt
3470 Posts |
I am dreaming of finding only one coin like this  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
If there was Viking trade in the area, there must be some Viking coins in these countries too. |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,375 |
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Posted 04/07/2008 08:07 am
