Archaeology - The Third Viking
Treasure of Westerklief
The third Viking treasure of Westerklief, with the man who
found it, during the official presentation in August. |
Sometimes it seems like it will never end! In February 2001, in a Westerklief
field, not far from the place where the other spectacular treasures had
previously been made, yet another silver treasure was found. This time,
a conclusion was quickly reached: this too was a Viking treasure. In addition,
the suspicion quickly arose that this could be part of the second treasure.
At present, this has not yet been officially confirmed. The municipality
of Wieringen wasted no time in buying the treasure, but waited until August
before announcing the find to the world. Luckily, the third treasure was
on display for a month, with the other treasures, at "het Huis van de Aarde",
before our move began.
What exactly
was found?
As with the the second treasure, this find contains mostly coins:
-
25 Carolingian coins (most whole, but some fragments)
-
12 complete Arabian coins
-
11 broken Arabian coins, more than 50% intact
-
16 fragments from Arabian coins, each smaller than half a coin
-
a silver cloak pin made from a coin
-
"hack" silver and small fragments of silver
The Carolingian coins cover a very large period of time. There are a number
of coins from the empire of Louis the Pious (814-840) and the empire of
Charles the Bald (843-877), including two exceptional denarii Scoldato,
a type of coin that was minted primarily in Northern Italy. For this type
of coin, thinner coin slugs were used. The slugs weighed the same as others
but were hammered thinner, and therefore became larger in diameter. Then,
when minted, the coin's impression was in the centre, with a plain, unmarked
band encircling it.
The majority of the coins in this find, however, were minted in Dorestad,
during the empire of Lothar I (840-855).
Naturally, the third Viking treasure receives a place of honour in
the new museum!
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