A field in the Scottish county of Dumfries and Galloway hid a stash of silver coins for more than 700 years. Experts believe the treasure, consisting of 8,407 silver coins, is the largest ever discovered in Scotland.
Amateur detectorists uncovered the 13th- and 14th-century coins in a field near the village of Danskor. The hoard has been named the Danskor Treasure.
After the initial discovery, representatives from the National Treasure Department and archaeologists from the National Museum of Scotland examined the site. Now specialists are cataloging the remarkable find, the Daily Mail reported.
Experts estimate the coins could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, though an exact valuation will come after a thorough assessment.
Professional archaeologists say the hoard mainly contains pennies from the reigns of Kings Edward I (1239–1307) and Edward II (1284–1327). The collection also includes rarer coins minted in continental European countries.
Archaeological finds from the COVID era
In recent years there has been a boom in discoveries by amateur detectorists across the United Kingdom. During the pandemic the country registered 12,263 artifacts submitted by hobbyists; the recently discovered coins are just a small part of the many treasures they have turned up.
Under Scottish law, any artifact of archaeological significance must be reported to the authorities.
The volume of finds in recent years is so large that the National Treasure Department of Scotland has had to hire additional staff.
Every week the department records an average of 200 new finds. Each item requires identification, photographing, measuring, and weighing.
Experts will now try to determine why the coins were buried. In some cases money and other valuables were deposited as ritual offerings. Alternatively, they may have been hidden for safekeeping and never reclaimed.
The Danskor antiquities were discovered near Balmaha, the site where the Galloway Hoard was found in 2014. Archaeologists recognized the Galloway Hoard as the most valuable collection of Viking-era artifacts ever found in Great Britain; it was valued at nearly two million pounds sterling.
