Gold Coins Unearthed at Medieval Monastery Site in Germany

WERNIGERODE, GERMANY—Four 500-year-old gold coins have been discovered at the site of a monastery that was built in central Germany in 1253 and inhabited into the sixteenth century, according to a Live Science report. One of the guilders was minted in Frankfurt before 1493, during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III; the second was minted in Schwabach between 1486 and 1495; and the remaining two were minted in Bonn by the Archdiocese of Cologne around 1480. Archaeologist Felix Biermann of the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology said that the gold coins may have been hidden by a monk in 1525, when farmers stormed the structure. The excavation also uncovered brass book clasps from the monastery’s library; pottery; animal bones; a cavalry spur; and lead seals that had been used to mark cloth for large-scale trade. To read about Celtic gold coins unearthed in northeastern Germany, go to "Golden Lucky Charms."