Finland's largest Viking Age silver coin hoard discovered

The useful part

Finland's largest known Viking Age silver coin hoard has been discovered in the municipality of Sysma, southern Finland, Lahti City Museums said in a press release on Monday, reported Xinhua. 3 by metal-detecting enthusiast Kalle Lappinen, according to the press release. The site was inspected the following day, and the hoard was recovered under the direction of Esko Tikkala, an archaeologist with Lahti City Museums.

How it works

• As they have yet to be cleaned, separated or counted, their exact weight and number, as well as their more precise dating, will be determined through further research.
• Lappinen, who has pursued metal detecting for years, told Finnish national broadcaster Yle that the hoard was found at one of his regular search sites, an area that had also been explored by other enthusiasts.
• Lappinen said the discovery left him in disbelief, noting that most signals picked up while metal detecting turn out to be rubbish or mineral deposits.
• The museum has confirmed it was the largest Viking Age coin hoard discovered in Finland to date.
• to silver coins, the hoard contains a fragment of silver used as payment, a silver bracelet, a silver fitting and a silver bead.

What to take from it

The coins and other objects had been placed in two birch-bark containers and buried about 45 centimeters underground between stones. Previously, Finland's largest known Viking Age coin hoard was one discovered in the municipality of Nousiainen, southwestern Finland, in 1895. It contains about 1,700 coins and other objects weighing a total of approximately 2.2 kg, according to Lahti City Museums.

Example or evidence

Details worth keeping

It was discovered near the center of Sysma on Sept. The two containers were about 12 meters apart. The coins weigh a total of approximately 4.5 kg.