Six early medieval Arab silver coins and two coin fragments have been discovered in northern Poland, potentially offering new evidence for the trading networks connected with the Viking-Age settlement of Truso.
The coins were found during a search of a woodland managed by the Młynary Forest District, near the city of Elbląg in northern Poland. The discovery consists of six Arab dirhams and two fragments of silver coins, provisionally dated to the first half of the ninth century.
The objects were initially handed over to the Elbląg branch of the regional heritage authorities before being transferred to the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg, where they will undergo conservation and further study.
“Six early medieval Arab dirhams and two fragments of these silver coins were discovered,” Dr Jakub Jagodziński of the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg told the Polish Press Agency (PAP). “They come from the first half of the ninth century, although more precise dating will only be possible after they have been studied. It is possible that they remained in circulation even until the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, that is, until the end of the settlement of Truso, with whose trading activity this find should be associated.”
A possible connection with Truso
Reconstruction of an early medieval building at Truso, the Viking-Age trading settlement near Elbląg in northern Poland. Photo by Bornholm / Wikimedia Commons
The location of the discovery makes the coins particularly intriguing. Truso was a major early medieval trading settlement situated on Lake Druzno, less than 10 kilometres from modern Elbląg.
Archaeologists believe the newly discovered silver may have been connected with merchants travelling along routes leading to or from Truso. Jagodziński has also suggested another possibility: the coins could have belonged to Prussian guards who collected tolls from travellers using these routes.
Truso was identified archaeologically in 1981 following a long search for the settlement described by the Anglo-Saxon traveller Wulfstan in the late ninth century. Archaeological investigations revealed an important craft and commercial centre with extensive connections across the Baltic world and beyond.
Research suggests that Truso was established by Scandinavians by the end of the seventh century and remained active until the beginning of the 11th century. Its position near the mouth of the Vistula placed it within trading networks extending towards Kievan Rus’, Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Arab silver in the Baltic
Arabic coins on display at the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg. Photo: Aktron / Wikimedia Commons.
The presence of Arab coins in the region is not unprecedented. Excavations at Truso itself have already produced striking evidence of the movement of Islamic silver into northern Europe during the early Middle Ages.
In 1986, archaeologists discovered a silver deposit at Truso consisting of 11 complete coins and five fragments. Ten of the identifiable coins were Abbasid dirhams, while another was a Sasanian drachma struck during the reign of the Persian ruler Khosrow II.
The coins had travelled enormous distances. According to the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg, examples in the Truso deposit were minted in places including Baghdad, Basra and Damascus, as well as mints in what are now Iran and Afghanistan. The youngest coin in that deposit was struck in 814/815.
Arab dirhams circulated in enormous numbers across northern and eastern Europe during the Viking Age. Their distribution provides archaeological evidence for the extensive commercial networks that linked Scandinavia and the Baltic with eastern Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Top Image: Photo courtesy Muzeum Archeologiczno-Historyczne w Elblągu
Six early medieval Arab silver coins and two coin fragments have been discovered in northern Poland, potentially offering new evidence for the trading networks connected with the Viking-Age settlement of Truso.
The coins were found during a search of a woodland managed by the Młynary Forest District, near the city of Elbląg in northern Poland. The discovery consists of six Arab dirhams and two fragments of silver coins, provisionally dated to the first half of the ninth century.
The objects were initially handed over to the Elbląg branch of the regional heritage authorities before being transferred to the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg, where they will undergo conservation and further study.
“Six early medieval Arab dirhams and two fragments of these silver coins were discovered,” Dr Jakub Jagodziński of the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg told the Polish Press Agency (PAP). “They come from the first half of the ninth century, although more precise dating will only be possible after they have been studied. It is possible that they remained in circulation even until the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, that is, until the end of the settlement of Truso, with whose trading activity this find should be associated.”
A possible connection with Truso
The location of the discovery makes the coins particularly intriguing. Truso was a major early medieval trading settlement situated on Lake Druzno, less than 10 kilometres from modern Elbląg.
Archaeologists believe the newly discovered silver may have been connected with merchants travelling along routes leading to or from Truso. Jagodziński has also suggested another possibility: the coins could have belonged to Prussian guards who collected tolls from travellers using these routes.
Truso was identified archaeologically in 1981 following a long search for the settlement described by the Anglo-Saxon traveller Wulfstan in the late ninth century. Archaeological investigations revealed an important craft and commercial centre with extensive connections across the Baltic world and beyond.
Research suggests that Truso was established by Scandinavians by the end of the seventh century and remained active until the beginning of the 11th century. Its position near the mouth of the Vistula placed it within trading networks extending towards Kievan Rus’, Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Arab silver in the Baltic
The presence of Arab coins in the region is not unprecedented. Excavations at Truso itself have already produced striking evidence of the movement of Islamic silver into northern Europe during the early Middle Ages.
In 1986, archaeologists discovered a silver deposit at Truso consisting of 11 complete coins and five fragments. Ten of the identifiable coins were Abbasid dirhams, while another was a Sasanian drachma struck during the reign of the Persian ruler Khosrow II.
The coins had travelled enormous distances. According to the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg, examples in the Truso deposit were minted in places including Baghdad, Basra and Damascus, as well as mints in what are now Iran and Afghanistan. The youngest coin in that deposit was struck in 814/815.
Arab dirhams circulated in enormous numbers across northern and eastern Europe during the Viking Age. Their distribution provides archaeological evidence for the extensive commercial networks that linked Scandinavia and the Baltic with eastern Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Top Image: Photo courtesy Muzeum Archeologiczno-Historyczne w Elblągu
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts