The discovery of two silver coins from the Roman Empire on a lonely island in the Baltic Sea, midway between Sweden and Estonia, has archaeologists puzzled but also excited.
The coins' origins are unknown, but they could have been dropped off by Norse traders, drowned in a shipwreck, or transported there by a Roman ship that traveled as far north.
Using metal detectors, a team led by Johan Rönnby, an archaeologist at Södertörn University in Stockholm, discovered the coins in March at a beach location indicated by ancient fireplaces on the island of Gotska Sandön.
“We were overjoyed”, he said to Live Science. “Although we have this website, we are unsure of its purpose. However, the discovery of the coins makes the excavation process even more intriguing.”
Roman Coins
The two silver coins discovered on the island are both Roman "denarii"; one is from the reign of Trajan, which lasted from A.D. 98 to 117, and the other is from Antoninus Pius, which lasted from A.D. 138 to 161.
When they were first produced, each coin would have cost around a day's wages for a worker and weighed less than an eighth of an ounce (4 grams).
The word "money" in some Latin-based languages, such as "denaro" in Italian and "dinero" in Spanish, still has the name of the denarii, the common coin of ancient Rome.
Because the silver they contained never lost its value, Rönnby claimed that Roman Empire coins may have been in use for a very long period. He also suggested that Norse traders who sought refuge in Gotska Sandön from storms at sea may have brought the coins there.
However, it's also conceivable that they were brought there by shipwreck survivors: He claimed that the area's seas are notoriously hazardous and strewn with wrecks.
Although there are no records of a Roman ship traveling into the Baltic, it is still possible that the coins were transported to Gotska Sandön by Romans.
“It's unlikely to be a Roman ship”, claimed Rönnby. “But you must also take into account the fact that the Romans sailed to Scotland and other places, and that they had authors at the time who wrote about the Baltic region.”
Baltic island