ugc_banner

Surprising discovery: Scandinavian small silver coin found in Hungary by metal detectorist

Amsterdam  Edited By: Gandharv WaliaUpdated: Jun 14, 2022, 09:23 AM IST
main img
Scandinavian small silver coin found in Hungary. Photograph:(Twitter)

Story highlights

At an archaeological site on the outskirts of the Várdomb village, the silver coin was found by metal detectorist Zoltán Csikós earlier this year. Csikós handed it over to archaeologist András Németh at the Wosinsky Mór County Museum in Szekszárd. It is the first time that a Scandinavian coin has been found in Hungary

A small silver coin, which has the mark of the name of the famous Viking King Harald Sigurdsson III, has been found surprisingly in southern Hungary by a metal detectorist. It hasn’t been discovered in Scandinavia, where it would have been almost 1,000 years ago. This recent discovery has puzzled archaeologists as they are not able to understand the emergence of the coin in Hungary. It may have arrived with the traveling court of a medieval Hungarian king.  

Denominated as a "penning", this Norwegian coin was made of silver. "This penning was equivalent to the denar used in Hungary at the time. It was not worth much — perhaps enough to feed a family for a day," Máté Varga, archaeologist, Rippl-Rónai Museum in the Hungarian city of Kaposvár, told Live Science in an email. Varga is also a doctoral student at Hungary's University of Szeged.  

Watch | Climate crisis: How can coastal areas survive rise in sea level?

At an archaeological site on the outskirts of the Várdomb village, the silver coin was found by metal detectorist Zoltán Csikós earlier this year. Csikós handed it over to archaeologist András Németh at the Wosinsky Mór County Museum in Szekszárd. It is the first time that a Scandinavian coin has been found in Hungary, Varga said.  

Watch WION's live TV here:

(With inputs from agencies) 

×