3 Nov 2006 Brothers find over a thousand silver coins

The discovery of the Viking treasure was announced fifteen years ago by Swedish archaeologists. Over a thousand silver coins from the period of the Vikingers were discovered on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea by two brothers.

The hoard, which weighed approximately three kilograms, also included several silver bracelets. According to the director of the local history museum, Majvor Ostergren, this is one of the 25 most important archaeological discoveries on the island.

The coins and bracelets were discovered by two brothers aged 20 and 17. This was preceded by the discovery of an Arab coin that was over 1,100 years old. The brothers came across it while helping out on a neighbour's property. They then discovered more than 100 other coins in the area. So they called in experts.

Already in 2000, Swedish archaeologists discovered a treasure in Gotland that weighed around 70 kilograms. Specifically, 500 Viking silver bracelets, 13,000 Arabic silver coins, dozens of silverbars, a large number of silver rings and hundreds of pieces of broken silver chains, necklaces and bracelets. Experts have estimated its value at around CZK 24 million.

It is thought that a wealthy Gotland merchant or goldsmith buried these valuables around 870. At the time of the discovery, the Vikings used Arab silver coins not only as currency but also as raw material for the production offor jewellery and silver bars, and were brought to Gotland from Russia and the eastern Baltic.

In the past, Gotland was the richest place in the Scandinavian world and a major port for trade between Sweden to the west and Russia and the Baltic states to the east. Arab silver coins, which were used not only as currency but also for the manufacture of jewellery and silver bars, arrived here with traders from Russia and the eastern Baltic states.

Evidence of the presence of Vikingtears can be found all along the coast of the island. From 1998 to 2005, archaeologists from the University of Gotland, led by Dan Carlsson, carried out extensive excavations in the Viking port of Fröjel.

We also wrote about the treasures from Gotland here: Treasures of Gotland

Sources: www.aktualne.cz, www.severskelisty.cz, www.novinky.cz