A Collection Of 1,000-Year-Old Viking Coins Were Discovered By Two Metal Detectorists On The Isle Of Man
Two metal detectorists have just discovered a collection of 1,000-year-old Viking coins on the Isle of Man, a small self-governing British crown dependency located in the middle of the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland.
John Crowe and David O’Hare were on the island last May when they uncovered the treasure. It consisted of 36 silver English and Irish coins, some of which were fragmented.
Rebecca Cubbon, the Isle of Man Deputy Coroner of Inquests at Manx National Heritage, an organization that protects the island’s history, examined the coins and declared them as official treasures.
“This is a wonderful find which helps further our understanding of the complex Viking Age economy in the Isle of Man, where more Viking Age silver has been discovered per square kilometer than in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales,” Allison Fox, Curator for Archaeology for Manx National Heritage, said in a press release.
The Isle of Man is known for its rich Viking history. Its location in the center of the Irish Sea made it an ideal spot for Vikings to establish their trading post.
In the 9th century, Vikings arrived on the island to raid and trade before eventually settling down. The remains of Viking settlements, burial mounds, and various artifacts have been found there.
The coin collection was also examined by Kristin Bornholdt Collins, an independent researcher and a leading expert in Viking Age coins who is based in New Hampshire.
After studying the treasure, she confirmed that the coins dated back around 1000 to 1065 C.E., and many of them were minted in different locations across England, such as York, London, Cambridge, Hastings, Lincoln, Ipswich, and Exeter.
Most of the coins were minted during the rule of Edward the Confessor, the king of England, from 1042 to 1066.
Philip – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Other English coins were minted during the reign of Canute, a Viking ruler who united England, Norway, and Denmark to form the North Sea Empire. His control over the empire ended with his death in 1035.
The Irish coins were all minted in Dublin. They feature the image of Sihtric Silkbeard, the Norse king of Dublin. He established one of the earliest mints in the city and helped lead the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
The hoard appeared to have been abandoned shortly before 1070 C.E. The broad range of locations in which the coins were found is indicative of a booming economy in the Irish Sea region during the Viking Age.
“This new hoard might be compared to a wallet containing all kinds of credit cards, notes, and coins, perhaps of different nationalities, such as when you prepare to travel overseas, and shows the variety of currencies available to an Irish Sea trader or inhabitants of Man in this period,” said Collins in the press release.
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