RENA, NORWAY—A Viking hoard of coins has been discovered in eastern Norway by metal detectorists, according to a Science in Norway report. The detectorists realized it was time to call archaeologists when they had retrieved 19 silver coins. “They have done a fantastic job and followed the regulations to the letter,” said archaeologist May-Tove Smiseth. With the help of archaeologists, the search recovered more than 3,000 coins within a week, and more coins are expected to be found. They were probably buried in a leather pouch and scattered by plowing after the pouch decayed, Smiseth explained. There is very little stone in the soil where the coins were discovered, which could explain the condition of the coins. “They have been preserved so well that they almost look newly minted,” she added. Preliminary examination of the coins suggests that most of them were minted in Germany and England. Some were also minted in Norway, after a national minting system was established in A.D. 1045. The treasure was likely buried around 1050, at the end of the Viking Age. “So not only is the discovery itself extraordinary, but it’s also connected to a very interesting period of Norwegian history,” said Svein Harald Gullbekk of the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, where the coins are stored. To read in-depth about similar discoveries in Sweden, go to "Hoards of the Vikings."
