Caches of Medieval Coins Found Under Wood Floors of Scandinavian Churches

A large number of coins were found in the wood floors of the Reinli Stave Church in Norway, built during the second half of the 13th century. Photo by John Erling BladArchaeologists keep finding huge caches of medieval coins under the wood floors of churches across Scandinavia.

More than 10,000 coins, dating between 1190 and 1320, have been discovered so far under the wood flooring of 28 ancient stave churches in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, according to Apollon, University of Oslo’s research magazine. Other artifacts, such as pearls, beads and hairpins, have also been unearthed during the excavations, performed by researchers at the Universities of Oslo and Uppsala.

“If you go into a Norwegian wooden church that hasn’t been investigated by archaeologists yet, I can guarantee you that there are a lot of coins under the floor,” Oslo University Researcher Svein Harald Gullbekk told Norwegian news outlet forskning.no.

The coins are believed to have been accidentally dropped by patrons seeking to purchase salvation at the churches—a common practice during the period—and rolled through cracks in the flooring.

Similarly dated churches in Europe typically had stone floors, which makes the medieval wood floors throughout Scandinavia unique and keepers of treasures that are revealing more about how people in the Middle Ages lived.

“There was a lot more coins in circulation, and it was more important than we previously thought,” Gullbekk said in his report.

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