STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—Live Science reports that a man digging for worms near his summer home in southeastern Sweden discovered a medieval hoard containing pearls, pendants, silver rings, and an estimated 20,000 coins. The man reported his discovery to local authorities, as required by law. Archaeologists have determined that most of the silver coins date to the twelfth century. Markings on some of them indicate that they were minted during the reign of Knut Eriksson, who ruled Sweden from 1173 to around 1195. Other coins bear imagery of a man holding a crosier, or shepherd’s crook, and are thought to have been minted by powerful Christian bishops. Researchers suggest that the hoard was placed in a copper vessel, which has largely deteriorated, and buried at the turbulent end of the twelfth century, when the Swedes were attempting to colonize areas of Finland, Lin Annerbäck of Stockholm’s Medieval Museum told Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish daily newspaper. To read in-depth about more than 700 silver hoards discovered on the Swedish island of Gotland, go to "Hoards of the Vikings."
