Devil’s Money Was Discovered At An Ancient Cult Site In The Netherlands
In the eastern Netherlands, near the German border, researchers have discovered an ancient site used for cult rituals, as evidenced by the remains of structures, as well as deposits of jewelry and gold and silver coins.
This “devil’s money” was left as offerings for pagan gods. It may have been the last example of its kind before locals converted to Christianity in the 8th century.
The site was excavated in 2020 and 2021 after metal detectorists unearthed numerous coins in the area. It is located in the village of Hezingen, about 80 miles east of Amsterdam.
“The research was also born out of necessity, as the site was threatened by nature development. This would involve removing the topsoil to encourage the original vegetation to come back,” said Dr. Jan-Willem de Kort, the lead author of the study and an archaeologist at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
The site was likely built in the early 7th century and was used by local pagans for around 100 years. Hezingen lies in the territory of the Saxons, the former residents of present-day Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
The researchers discovered 25 gold coins, gold pendants, and part of a silver earring at the Hezingen site. The treasures were buried in several deposits that suggested they were offerings to a pagan god such as Wodan, the Germanic version of the Norse god Odin.
A total of 17 postholes were identified, and based on their positions, the researchers determined that the site was composed of a large boulder and a row of wooden posts surrounding an unusual building.
The posts would have aligned with the spring and autumn equinoxes, further adding to the idea that the site was used to conduct seasonal rituals that may have been related to sowing and harvests.
The discovery of cult sites like Hezingen is rare, but they are crucial to understanding cult rituals in the area and how they changed as Europe gradually converted from paganism to Christianity. The conversion was driven by the Roman emperor Constantine I in the early 4th century.
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Hezingen once lay north of the Lower German Limes, the northern border of the Roman Empire. Long before the Hezingen site was built in the 600s, Germanic peoples attacked the border and reclaimed the land that Rome had taken from them. But by the late 8th century, Hezingen and the surrounding region became Christianized.
“Missionaries such as Plechelmus and Lebuinus are known to have carried out missionary work in these regions around 760, and, in addition, the first churches (like Oldenzaal) were consecrated around the same time,” said Dr. de Kort.
The missionaries recorded the habits of local pagans. Some medieval missionary texts mentioned that locals needed to renounce their old gods and stop offering “devil’s money” at cult sites in order to convert to Christianity.
The presence of gold and silver artifacts at Hezingen indicated that its users were regional elites. The valuable objects represented their power and status.
The site was abandoned in the late 7th or early 8th century, before Christianity was widespread in the region, suggesting that the local elite were among the first to convert.
The study was published in the journal Medieval Archaeology.
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