Archaeologists have found a 1,000-year-old coin minted under King Henry III on a royal farm in Avaldsnes.
Heinrich III coins, Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project
University of Oslo archaeologists were looking for the farm rumoured to be on the island of Karmøy in Rogaland when they made their discovery.
The silver coin dates back to 1050. One side (left) has the face of King Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor (1046-56) wearing his crown. The other end (right) shows a glimpse of two saints, believed to be Simon and Judas with curly hair, beards and halos.
Professor Dagfinn Skre from the University brands the search as “the most exciting I have been involved in”.
“This German silvercoin is extremely rare. In fact, foreign coinswere illegal in Norway from the mid and to late 1000s. Only two similar archeological finds have been made previously,” he told NRK.
Professor Skre is also manager for the Iron Age and Viking collections at the university’s Museum of Cultural History, and has shown great enthusiasm for the coins, which weigh 0.84 grams and are 1.7 centimetres in diameter, according to the broadcaster.
This coin, found by a member of Rygene Detektorklubb, is believed to be part of a foreign currency exchange, transacted when King Harald Hårdrade and his son Olav Kyrre, later known as King Olav III, established a Royal mint.
The professor believes “It was probably lost in one of the houses or outside,” and found near ruins of a building from the late Viking to early Medieval period discovered in 2006.
