Finland's largest Viking Age silver hoard discovered by metal detectorist — and it has thousands of coins and pieces of jewelry
The largest Viking Age silver hoard ever found in Finland was unearthed by a metal detectorist north of Helsinki.
Finland's largest collection of Viking Age silver has been discovered by a metal detectorist near the town of Sysmä, about 95 miles north of Helsinki. The hoard contains nearly 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of coins and jewelry, buried in two birch-bark containers. Archaeologists have not yet fully cleaned, sorted, or counted the thousands of pieces found.
Kalle Lappinen, the metal detectorist who made the discovery, contacted the museum immediately after finding the two deposits on September 3. The hoard's coins and jewelry likely date between A.D. 1000 and 1050. While it's challenging to determine the exact time of burial, it is unclear if the hoard was buried by Vikings. The area around the hoard was not known to be a Viking settlement, and the surrounding region had not been thoroughly studied.
The coins in the hoard came from present-day Germany, Sweden, and Great Britain, along with some dirhams from the Islamic world. In addition to the silver coins, the hoard also includes jewelry and hack silver, pieces of silver that could be cut into smaller pieces for payments. The value of the precious metal alone in the hoard is roughly $10,000.
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