Finland's largest Viking Age silver hoard
A metal detectorist has discovered Finland's largest Viking Age silver hoard, containing nearly 10 pounds of coins and jewelry, buried in two birch-bark
A metal detectorist has uncovered the largest Viking Age silver hoard ever found in Finland. The discovery, made north of Helsinki, consists of nearly 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of coins and jewelry.
Kalle Lappinen found the two deposits on September 3 and immediately contacted the Lahti Historical Museum. Archaeologists, led by museum archaeologist Esko Tikkala, excavated the finds the following day. The hoard was buried beside a rock outcrop in a forest near the town of Sysmä.
Composition and Burial
The silver was divided into two deposits, each placed in a birch-bark container. They were buried between stones about 18 inches (45 centimeters) underground and roughly 39 feet (12 meters) apart. Tikkala told Live Science the hoard contains thousands of individual pieces, though it has not been fully cleaned and counted. The artifacts likely date to between A.D. 1000 and 1050, but their exact burial date remains unknown.
The collection includes coins from regions corresponding to modern Germany, Sweden, and Great Britain. It also contains Islamic dirhams, silver coins from the Islamic world. Dirhams previously found in Finland generally date from about 800 to 1050. Alongside the coins are pieces of jewelry, such as a silver bracelet, and 'payment silver' in the form of hack silver-pieces cut for transactions based on weight.
A Finnish Context, Not a Viking One
Archaeologist Esko Tikkala emphasized that the term 'Viking Age' does not imply Vikings were present in Finland. "We have no sources suggesting that Finland was 'Viking' in the same sense as regions of present-day Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," he said. Finnish historians use the term to designate the period, but the area was not culturally or politically part of Viking Scandinavia. The hoard's origins reflect trade connections rather than a local Viking culture.
Comparative Hoard Discoveries
This find surpasses Finland's previous largest Viking Age hoard, discovered in 1895 at Nousiainen. That cache contained over 1,700 silver coins but weighed only about half as much as the new discovery. Other Nordic countries have also recently reported record finds below.
| Country | Discovery Timeframe | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Norway | Spring 2024 | Cache of over 4,700 coins found. |
| Denmark | Spring 2024 | Hoard of over 700 silver objects, weighing more than 40 pounds (18.5 kg), found in a backyard. |
| Finland (New Find) | September 2024 | Nearly 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of coins and jewelry, the country's largest Viking Age silver hoard. |
Next Steps for Research
The next phase involves a proper study of the burial site and its surroundings. Specialists in Viking Age coins will then work to identify the coins and prepare a detailed report. "There will definitely be scientific articles published on the hoard as a whole, as well as more detailed studies of the coins themselves," Tikkala stated. The raw precious metal in the hoard is estimated to be worth nearly $10,000 today. Several other buried hoards have been found in the same region of Finland over the past decade, though the reasons for burying such treasures-whether for safekeeping, ritual offerings, or other purposes-remain a subject of study.
