Posted on 07/13/2007 8:54:21 AM PDT by blam
Coin discovery thrills archaeologists
Archaeologists monitoring some digging by the City of Oslo's waterworks department made a sensational discovery this week.
Gunhild Høvik Hansen spotted the special coin while digging herself. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN
The discovery was made while archaeologists were monitoring replacement of new waterlines in the oldest part of Oslo. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN
The archaeologists have been following excavations done by city workers who are replacing underground water pipes in the oldest part of Oslo, called Gamlebyen.
That's the neighbourhood east of today's downtown area where Oslo’s first known settlements were established more than a thousand years ago. It's also where there are ruins of churches and homes from the Middle Ages.
Gunhild Høvik Hansen of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (Norsk institutt for kulturminneforskning, NIKU) said she was doing some digging herself when suddenly something caught her attention amidst all the sand and dirt.
"I thought that this must be something very exciting," she told newspaper Aften.
She plucked out what experts agree is a silver coin that's at least 900 years old. The thin and worn coin weighs no more than two grams, with a diameter of about one-and-a-half centimetres.
It remains unclear where the coin came from, possibly Germany or England.
Svein Gullbekk of the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Kulturhistorikk museum) said coins have been found that date from 1200-1400, and even 1000, but nothing from the 1100s.
"This is exciting," he exclaimed. "There weren't very many coins in Norway during the 1100s."
GGG Ping.
The caption struck me funny....
"Gee, I sure do dig myself. I mean, I really, really dig myself. Oh, look! Here's a special coin!"
Render unto Caesar........Fork it over!.......
What did they use instead ... buckets of Lutefisk?
Me trade you wife for walrus, ja?
I don't know. I'm an R1b and was in Ireland when all that was going on. Those people are likely to be R1a's and 'I's'. (Some U5's and V's too)
I’m always excited to find a little money.
Uh, Ok.... I’ll bite: what’s an R1b?
“It remains unclear where the coin came from, possibly Germany or England.”
I would guess England. Probably booty in a viking raid.
I don’t remember the date, but there was a medieval Norwegian coin found in an archaeological site in Maine (Indian village), maybe 1100s or 1200s. That to my mind is more exciting than finding a Norwegian coin in Norway—since it suggests continuing contact with North America long after the period that we know of from the sagas. (The Norse didn’t necessarily get to Maine—the coin might have been traded from one Indian tribe to another—but then again they might have.)
Shoot, I’d rather find a chunk of Nokkelost. Cannot find that anywhere, and would sure love some.
Ask for Leiden next time. It is the Dutch version of Nokkelost. Semi hard cheese with caraway seeds. We grate it and put it on a slice of buttered bread. We buy it in Alaska so they should have it where you live.
Gaaaah!!!
I doubt I’m the only coin collecting Freeper...
Does it make anyone else cringe when they see people man handling these millennium old coins like they are?
Hold it from the edges!!! Get your greasy fingers off the face!!
(ok - I feel better now :)
Imagine the excitement in the year 3000 A.D. when a Lincoln penny is unearthed!
Very cøøl.
Uh, I’m pretty sure that coin isn’t in MS-65 condition.
In other news, Spain has just claimed that the coin was really found in their territory and they want it back.
A møøse ønce bit my numismatist sister!
Well maybe, but I'm not sure that has any currency.
Brings back memories of disco "queen", Monte Rock III.
One of the pleasures of ancient coin collecting is that it isn’t necessary to hold the coin by the edges. It’s been in the ground for several hundred years. Skin oil won’t hurt it a bit.
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Note: this topic is from July 13, 2007. Somehow I missed your ping at the time. |
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