Finland discovers largest silver coin hoard in the country’s history

Archaeologists have discovered the largest silver coin hoard dating to Finland’s Late Iron Age near the church village of Sysmä in southern Finland.

TodayPress TV reports, citing Arkeonews, that the hoard was discovered by Kalle Lappinen using a metal detector. The following day, specialists from museums in the city of Lahti began excavations at the site.

A team led by archaeologist Esko Tikkala discovered thousands of coins, fragments of silver jewellery, a bracelet, a fastening element and a bead. The finds weigh approximately 4.5 kilograms in total. The exact number of coins is not yet known. Their cleaning, documentation and counting are still underway.

The hoard has attracted attention not only because of its size, but also because of the way it was stored. The silver objects were buried about 45 centimetres underground in two birch-bark containers. The containers were located approximately 12 metres apart.

According to archaeologists, the preserved fragments of birch bark are of particular importance, as such material is rarely found in Finnish soil.

Previously, the country’s largest hoard record belonged to a find discovered in Nousiainen in 1895. That hoard contained 1,700 coins and small silver objects, with a total weight of 2.2 kilograms.

The new discovery has already almost doubled the previous record by weight.