The find consists of six dirhams, silver coins used across the medieval Islamic world, and two coin fragments.
They were discovered in the Młynary Forest District, according to Jakub Jagodziński of the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg.
The coins date from the first half of the 9th century, although specialists will try to establish a more precise date after conservation and examination.
Jagodziński said they may have remained in circulation until around the turn of the 11th century, when the nearby trading settlement of Truso ceased to function.
The coins could have belonged to merchants traveling to or from Truso, he said. Another possibility is that they were held by local Prussian guards who collected tolls from travelers using the trade routes.
The discovery adds to evidence of the long-distance commercial networks centered on Truso. Goods reached the settlement from across Europe and Asia, and previous finds there have included coins from the Arab caliphates and Western Europe.
Truso was an early medieval trading and craft center on Lake Druzno, near present-day Elbląg.
Archaeological research indicates that it was founded by Danes around the end of the 7th century, on the border between Slavic and Baltic settlement areas. Its location gave merchants access to the Vistula River system, which connected the Baltic coast with Kievan Rus, Byzantium and markets farther east.
Truso formed part of a network of similar trading ports established around the Baltic during the Viking Age. Its inhabitants included merchants and craftspeople engaged in long-distance trade.
The settlement was discovered in 1981 by archaeologist Marek Jagodziński, Jakub Jagodziński’s father, after centuries of attempts to locate the trading center described in medieval accounts.
Research suggests Truso continued to operate until the early 11th century. Its decline coincided with the expansion of the early Piast state, while Gdańsk increasingly took over its role as a major regional trading center.
The newly discovered coins will now undergo conservation and examination by specialists in early medieval numismatics. They are later expected to go on display at the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg.
(rt/gs)
Source: naukawpolsce.pl