470 Middle Eastern coins from the 7th Century found near Stockholm, Sweden
There’s so much anthropology news all of a sudden, I’m gonna do my best to share them with you but I can’t promise I’ll cover it all. This first tidbit is of an archaeological find from Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. Archaeologist Karin Beckman-Thoor 
tells the BBC News that she and her crew found over 470 coins from the Middle East at this site. The clincher is that they are around 1,300 years old! Karin said,
“Most of the coins were minted in Baghdad and Damascus, but some came from Persia and North Africa…”
There aren’t many specifics of the site, maybe Martin knows a bit more about it. All we know was that it was an Iron Age hoard site, and since the coins date from the 7th to 9th Century, that indicates it was most likely the Vikings who cashed these coins. Vikings are known to have traveled widely, and before this find we knew that they made it to North Africa and Constantinople, perhaps it was in Constantinople where these coins were picked up? Or did they make it deeper in to the East?
What an interesting discovery, as it allows to imagine the commercial routes of the vikings. I’m interested in Scandinavia and usually there aren’t many news there, so thanks for sharing that one!
Atka Kevlarsjal
April 4, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thanks for linking!
it was an Iron Age hoard site
No, a burial site dating from 1000 years before the hoard.
it was most likely the Vikings who cashed these coins.
A subset of the general Scandinavian farmer population took part in Viking raids, yes.
perhaps it was in Constantinople where these coins were picked up? Or did they make it deeper in to the East?
They made it way, way deeper into Central Asia using the Russian rivers.
Martin R
April 5, 2008 at 7:50 am
[...] yourself is this surprising? No it is not. In April we read of archaeological evidence of Middle Eastern coins from the 7th century in Sweden. This indicates [...]
An Arab in Roman Iron-Age Denmark « Anthropology.net
June 26, 2008 at 7:35 am
I found a coin in Turkey in the hills outside the cityof Istanbul near Bursain 1966 and it resembles the coins you show from the middle east. How do I find out what Ireally have?
Mark Stevenson
March 28, 2010 at 8:49 am