Over 7,000 Medieval Silver Coins Discovered by a 9-Year-Old Boy in Sweden
Together
with his grandfather Jens, Alexander
Granhof, who is a nine-year-old boy, discovered a huge amount of silver coins. It is believed that the
coins date back to the Middle Ages and scientists consider that the medieval silver coins are, in fact,
represent largest ever discovery in southern
Sweden.
Mr. Jens and Alexander went out to explore the place where the Battle of Lund took place, back in 1676. The boy suddenly spotted on the site a few silver coins that were coated in verdigris. It seems that due to the recent plowing the treasure somehow came to surface.
After the finding, a group of archaeologists from the National Heritage Board visited the place of the discovery, being equipped with metal detectors for analyzing the site. Shortly after that the specialists were able to find over 7,000 medieval silver coins that were probably struck around 1300 AD.
According to one of the archaeologists, Mats Anglert, the found silver coins were mainly from
"I suspect we may have doubled the number of English coins from the
Middle Ages ever found in
It is interesting to note that the English sterling coins had been widely used during the medieval times and served as a global currency. "The ones we found were in their own separate container," mentioned Mats Anglert.
"We're going to continue digging now and hope that we find out more about the context surrounding the coins. Somebody probably buried it but we don't know why. In Viking times people often sacrificed money in religious rites but I doubt if it's that. This was a large fortune and the reasons were probably more financial," outlined the archaeologist.
Mats Anglert said that Alexander Granhof, who was the one to discover the
treasure, was "…somewhat overwhelmed. He was very enthusiastic and was
able to help us out with the dig."