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Finland's largest Viking Age silver hoard discovered by metal detectorist - and it has thousands of coins and pieces of jewelry
Live Science • • world
Key Points:
- A metal detectorist discovered the largest Viking Age silver hoard ever found in Finland, containing nearly 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of coins and jewelry, about 95 miles north of Helsinki near Sysmä.
- The hoard, dated between A.D. 1000 and 1050, consists of thousands of pieces including coins from present-day Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Islamic dirhams, silver jewelry, and hack silver used for payments.
- The two deposits were buried about 18 inches underground and 39 feet apart in birch-bark containers, with no nearby burials found; the exact reason for burial remains unclear.
- Although from the Viking Age, the hoard was likely not buried by Vikings, as Finland was not culturally or politically part of Viking Scandinavia during that period.
- Archaeologists plan further study of the site and detailed analysis of the coins, with scientific articles forthcoming; this hoard surpasses Finland's previous largest Viking Age find from 1895.
