The coronavirus pandemic has forced many countries, especially in Europe and North America, to halt archaeological excavations. Maybe that’s why random finds attracted more attention.
Known by the memes, ” British scientists” even launched a special program Portable Antiquities Scheme ( PAS), which encouraged residents of the country to excavate their gardens.
But it’s not worth starting with these findings.
oneVandal Tribe Treasury
A treasure of ancient Roman coins was found near the Ukrainian border / Photo: Muzeum im. ks. Stanislawa Staszica w Hrubieszowie
So, spring 2020.
A pandemic is a pandemic, and agricultural work is on schedule. In late March , a huge treasure trove of 1,753 Roman silver coins from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD was found in southeastern Poland, which were left by vandals when they fled the invasion of the Goth tribe.
The coins were found by the farmer Mariusz Dil a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The treasure was scattered over a large area. Deal collected everything he could, and then reported the find to archaeologists at the Grubeshov Museum.
A group of archaeologists excavated the area and found another 137 coins up to 100 meters away from what they believed to be the original burial site of the hoard, where the farmer found the largest group of coins.
Eight silver-plated bronze rivets were also found among the coins. These were probably the remains of a wooden or leather container in which they were hidden.
The Roman legionnaire at that time earned about 300 silver denarii a year, so the treasure was a huge amount. According to archaeologists, the vandals had to hurry to abandon their entire huge treasury and flee from the Goth tribe. However, the silver was hidden well – for hundreds of years.
2Pig and gold
Photo: Miroslav Chaloupka
In the summer of 2020, a Czech couple discovered a treasure of 435 gold and silver coins from the 14th century , which were in a forest near the Kladrubsky monastery in West Bohemia.
The pair stumbled upon two gold and one silver coins next to a large flat stone. Probably the first coin was found by a wild pig, which was digging the ground in search of food.
When archaeologists from the local museum excavated the entire treasure, they found 92 gold coins with a total weight of 326 grams and 343 silver coins. Silver coins are of the type of pennies that were common in Bohemia and Central Europe in the 14th century.
Most of them were minted in Bohemia during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. They are very worn out and therefore, most likely, they have been used as a means of payment for a long time.
But the gold coins are in excellent condition.
3Hundreds of gold coins
A vessel with gold coins was found in Israel / Photo: Heidi Levine / Pool via REUTERS
In August 2020, students who participated in an archaeological excavation in the center of Israel found 425 gold coins that had lain in an earthen vessel for 1,100 years.
Most of the money comes from the early Islamic period when the region was part of the Abbasid caliphate.
The coins weigh 845 grams and at the time of burial they would have cost a huge amount – enough to buy a luxurious house in one of the cities of the Caliphate. Who owned the cache and why this person did not return to pick it up remains a mystery.
4National treasure
One of the coins from the time of Prince Vladimir – with a trident / Photo: Oleksandr Alfyorov
At the end of August, in the village of Gorodnitsa in the Zhytomyr region, scientists discovered 32 coins from the times of Kievan Rus , which date back to 1000-1019. Alexander Alferov, a researcher at the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, announced the discovery in his blog.
“ This is a treasure of national importance! For over 100 years, historians have not known such finds! ” – Alexander Alferov admired.
According to the researcher, the coins were found by local residents who, late in the evening on August 27, contacted the staff of the Institute of History of Ukraine and agreed to transfer the coins to the state.
On silver coins dating from 1000-1019, there are images of the Kiev prince, and on the reverse side there is a princely sign – Vladimir’s trident and Svyatopolk’s two-teeth. Such coins were minted from silver Arab coins – dirhams.
5And again – our coins
Photo: Robert Carley
Literally a couple of days after the find in the Zhytomyr region, a message appeared that an amateur archaeologist Robert Carly discovered several very rare coins from the time of Prince Vladimir in the Irish county of Cork .
These 1,000-year-old silver and gold coins are the first Russian coins to be found in Ireland and will help scholars explore connections between European regions in the Middle Ages, the Irish media emphasized.
Actually, Carly is one of those in this collection who purposefully searched for treasures. He found coins at the edge of a ravine when part of it left after a heavy rain. Carly lives nearby and thought there was a chance with his new metal detector to find something.
“The coins show how, despite their fearsome reputation, the Vikings also connected distant parts of the world, such as Ireland and what is now Ukraine,” noted the Irish media.
6British scientists asked …
A hoard of 64 coins, currently valued at around £ 14,000, was found by the family in the garden of their home in the British New Forest Park. The hoard contains coins from the time of Edward IV to his grandson Henry VIII, and among them there are unusual coins with the initials of the wives of Henry VIII, the staff of the British Museum said.
Historians admitted that ” this year the number of garden finds has increased.” Ian Richardson, curator of the museum’s treasures, said people apparently spent more time in their garden, “which led to completely unexpected archaeological discoveries.”
So it was with an unnamed New Forest family who dug up 63 gold coins and one silver coin from the 15th and 16th centuries. “They loosened the soil, and all of a sudden these coins popped out of the ground … miraculously. This is quite a shocking find for them and very interesting for us, ”Richardson said.
The treasure was probably hidden around 1540. It includes coins from the reign of Henry VIII, which are unusual in that they also separately depict the initials of his three wives – Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
7Dowry of the Kiev princess
At the end of December 2020 , the treasures of the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev Maria were found in Poland . The wedding rings were found along with medieval coins buried in a corn field in Slushków near the Polish city of Kalisz.
According to the head of the study, Dr. Adam Kendzierski from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, this find is one of the most intriguing treasures in Poland.
Kalisz and Warsaw archaeologists have found a treasure of 6.5 thousand silver coins placed in linen bags, silver ingots, fragments of lead and two gold wedding rings.
One of the rings has an inscription in Cyrillic, which was deciphered by Professor Adrian Yusupovich from the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. It reads: “Lord, help your servant Mary.” According to Yusupovich, the wedding ring should be associated with a “Rusyn” princess named Maria.
“ We know that at that time the wife of Boleslav Kryvostoy was a Rusyn princess named Zbyslava. According to literature, she was supposed to have a sister, Maria, the wife of Peter Vlostovich. It is generally accepted that Maria was the daughter of Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich, Prince of Kiev, ”said Professor Yusupovich.
The coins found, according to the historian, may be part of the dowry received by Mary.
Bonus: not everything is treasure in the ground
In December, French and Belgian authorities confiscated a collection of 27,400 Roman coins and artifacts that they believe were found in illegal excavations in eastern France.
The suspect himself, who identifies as Patrice T., claims to have accidentally discovered the relics with a metal detector east of Brussels last October.
In France, metal detectors are only allowed for scientific work, but in Belgium they can also be used for personal searches. The authorities believe that Patrice T. used the difference between Belgian and French laws to legalize his cache of looted treasures.
The authorities and the suspect are now awaiting a court decision
