September 9th, 2010 – Archaeologists have found a hoard of 82 coins and fragmented coins, a bracelet, and three pieces of silver ingots near Anklam, a city in German Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In fact, this would not be very exciting, if there was not the date and the origin of the coins.
Those were struck in Northern Africa and in the Near East between 610 and 820 AD. This means that Arabosasanian coins were found in North-Eastern Germany near the Baltic Sea!
The trade routes of the Early Middle Ages are the reason, why these coins have traveled so far. River Dnieper and river Volga were the most important trade channels connecting the Black and the Baltic Sea. Fred Ruchhöft, historian at the Greifswald University presumes that either Vikings or Arabic merchants crossing Europe to transport their goods have brought these coins to Anklam.
One of them buried the hoard nearly 1.200 years ago. For these 200 grams of silver he could have bought four oxen or a slave.
If you want to see the coins found, please click here. Unfortunately this site is in German only.
If you want to know more about the History of the Hanseatic City of Anklam, please click here.