‘The detectors never stopped beeping!’ Nearly 3,000 coins discovered in field are Norway’s largest Viking hoard on record
Norwegian archaeologists have discovered a viking Ancient hoard containing 2,970 silver coins minted in England, Germany, Denmark and Norway. It’s the largest hoard of Viking coins ever discovered in Norway – and archaeologists haven’t finished digging yet.
Two metal detectors found the first 19 coins on April 10 on a farm near the village of Rena in eastern Norway, according to a translated statement of the Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage. Detectives alerted local archaeologists, who joined the search the next day.
Experts from the Oslo Museum of Cultural History are already examining the pieces, dubbed the Mørstad Treasure, after the farm where they were discovered. Examples include coins minted under Æthelred II (king of England from 978 to 1016), Cnut the Great (king of England, Denmark, and Norway from c. 1016 to 1035), and Otto III (Holy Roman Emperor from 996 to 1002).
“Foreign currencies dominated monetary circulation in Norway until Harald Hardrada ([ruled] 1046-1066) established a national currency,” Svein Gullbekknumismatist at the Museum of Cultural History, declared in a statement. But some of the coins discovered in the hoard were minted under Hardrada, meaning the hoard was deposited around 1050, just as Norwegian coinage was taking off, Gullbekk said.
A handful of coins from the largest hoard of Viking coins in Norwegian history.
(Image credit: Innlandet County Authority)
The treasure could represent a store of Viking wealth derived not from raids, but from the industrial-scale processing of natural resources from Scandinavia’s local peat bogs.
“The ore was extracted from the peat bogs and the processed iron was exported to Europe,” Jostein Bergstølarchaeologist at the Museum of Cultural History, said in a statement. “From the 900s until the late 1200s, there was enormous iron production in this region.”
Ground conditions likely helped preserve the pieces, according to Smiseth.
Archaeologists have also recovered hacksilver, silver jewelry cut up and used as currency in the Middle Ages.
(Image credit: Innlandet County Authority)
“This is a truly unique discovery, the kind you will experience only once in your career,” Smiseth said in a translated text. statement. In addition to coins, archaeologists have discovered pieces of hacksilver — cut fragments of silver jewelry which served as currency in the Middle Ages.
Archaeologists are still working at the site to see if there are additional items in the hoard or if evidence of a settlement could be found in the area. But Mørstad’s treasure has already made history.
“We have found Viking Age coin hoards containing around 2,000 coins before, but never more than 3,000,” Gullbekk said. Science Norway. “They broke a barrier here. It’s truly exceptional.”
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