What could you possibly find digging rocks and soil and mud? With the help of a priest and local firefighters, a medieval stockpile brimming with silver ingots, gold rings and more than a handful of silver coins was recently discovered in a Polish cornfield by an archaeologist.
"Lord, may you help your servant Maria," it was
written or rather engraved in a Gold Ring, writings is in Cyrillic inscription.
The nearly 900-year-old hoard, found in Słuszków, a village in west-central
Poland, held a one-of-a-kind treasure.
That ring may have belonged to a princess; the coin stash
was certainly fit for one. "The newfound hoard consists of over 6,600
items — silver coins and silver clumbs (tiny ingots) … wrapped in three linen
pouches, packed in a basket and then put in the ceramic vessel," Adam
Kędzierski, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology at
the Polish Academy of Sciences, told Live Science in an email.
The exact location of the 1935 hoard had never been
recorded, and Kędzierski hoped to locate and photograph it for an upcoming
book. However, during his stay, Kędzierski happened to talk with a priest, Rev.
Jan Stachowiak, who shared a little bit of gossip about the possible location
of another hoard.
After using a metal detector to locate the general area where the hoard was buried, Kędzierski and his colleagues dug up a small trench in a cornfield in the village. There, he found a ceramic vessel that held the medieval riches. "The vessel itself, buried only 30 centimeters [nearly 12 inches] under the ground, was completely preserved — only the lid/the upper part was missing," he said.
According to The First News, a Polish news outlet, Kędzierski
and his team called in local volunteer firefighters after realizing the hoard's
incredible value, to guard the treasure until the excavation was complete.
Most of the coins were silver coins known as cross denarii, minted with the image of a large cross and dating to the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th century, he said. The hoard also held Czech, Danish, Hungarian and German coins, including a denarius coin of Germany's King Henry III.
The "rarest coins" are denarii featuring Sieciech,
a high-ranking Polish statesman who served Władysław I Herman, the Duke of
Poland from 1079 to 1102, Kędzierski said. The hoard's "biggest
sensation," are four golden rings, including the ring with the Cyrillic
inscription about the woman named Maria, he said.
Unlike silver trinkets, gold jewelry was extremely rare in
Poland during the early Medieval period, Kędzierski said. Perhaps, the newfound
gold rings belonged to the first ruling dynasty of Poland, known as the Piast
dynasty.
"The treasure (dated back to 1105) might have belonged
to Zbigniew, Duke of Poland, and the wedding band wearing the Cyrillic inscription
could have been a gift of his grandmother — Dobroniega Maria, a daughter of
Vladimir the Great, Prince of Kiev, and a wife of a Polish price, Casimir the
Restorer," Kędzierski said in the email.
Now that the hoard has been excavated, researchers will analyze and date the gold and silver pieces as well as the linen pouches and the basket that held these treasures. "Particularly interesting will be establishing the provenance of the gold decoration items," such as the rings, Kędzierski said.
The discovery of this second hoard at Słuszków suggests that
the village may have played a more important role in history than previously
realized. Perhaps a high ranking official tied to the duke lived in Słuszków,
or maybe it was even a temporary residence for Duke Zbigniew, Kędzierski said.
Słuszków is known for other early medieval artifacts; over
the years, local farmers have told archaeologists about early medieval vessels
and dishes found in their fields, "which may be a sign of [the] remains of
stone buildings in the area of Słuszków," Kędzierski said.
I am now thinking to buy a metal detector in a local store
and start looking for treasure of my own.
Cheerio!
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