A woman has stumbled across an “unimaginable” 900-year-old treasure which archaeologists are already hailing as the “discovery of the decade”.
The treasure was unearthed by the woman while she was out walking in the Kutnohorsk region of the Czech Republic.
As she made her way along a country path, she came across the remains of a ceramic pot lying on the ground and decided to take a closer look.
To her utter astonishment she found a hoard of more than 2,000 silver medieval coins inside the pot.
The coins are believed to have been minted between 1085 and 1107, and were most likely produced in Prague before making their way to Bohemia.
Experts say the coins are an alloy of silver, copper, lead and other traceable metals.
They were used to either pay soldiers who were fighting in the region or were seized as spoils of war.
There was much political instability at the time in question, with various marauding armies fighting each other.
Filip Velímský from The Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (ARUP) explained: “At that time there were disputes in the country between members of the Přemysl dynasty over the Prague princely throne.”
The Premyslid Dynasty ruled Bohemia from the ninth century until 1306. During their reign the Czech state gradually grew in strength and succeeded in preserving its actual sovereignty despite formal vassal ties to the Holy Roman Empire.
One of its most famous leaders was Prince Wenceslas, who ruled from 907 until 935 and has since become a patron saint of Bohemia.
He is the subject of the well-known “Good King Wenceslas”, a carol for Saint Stephen’s Day.
The ARUP said that the value of the coins during their time would have been enormous.
“For the changeover from the 11th to the 12th century we have no data on the purchasing power of contemporary coins,” Velímský said.
“But it was a gigantic amount, unimaginable and, at the same time, unattainable for an ordinary person. It can be compared to winning a million in the lottery.”
Historians are now processing the coins, a job that includes x-raying them to determine the exact materials they are made of.
The ARUP announced that the pieces will be displayed in an exhibition planned for 2025.