“A medieval hoard brimming with silver ingots, gold rings and thousands of silver coins was recently discovered in a Polish cornfield by an archaeologist, with the help of a priest and local firefighters.
The nearly 900-year-old hoard, found in Słuszków, a village in west-central Poland, held a one-of-a-kind treasure — a gold ring etched with a Cyrillic inscription that translates to: ‘Lord, may you help your servant Maria.’
That ring may have belonged to a princess; the coin stash was certainly fit for one. ‘The newfound hoard consists of over 6,600 items — silver coins and silver clumbs (tiny ingots) … wrapped in three linen pouches, packed in a basket and then put in the ceramic vessel,’ Adam Kędzierski, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, told Live Science in an email.
Kędzierski said he wouldn’t have found the medieval hoard without the help of a local priest. In November 2020, Kędzierski visited Słuszków to learn more about another medieval treasure — one of the largest coin hoards ever found in Poland, which had been unearthed in 1935.
The exact location of the 1935 hoard had never been recorded, and Kędzierski hoped to locate and photograph it for an upcoming book. However, during his stay, Kędzierski happened to talk with a priest, Rev. Jan Stachowiak, who shared a little bit of gossip about the possible location of another hoard.
After using a metal detector to locate the general area where the hoard was buried, Kędzierski and his colleagues dug up a small trench in a cornfield in the village. There, he found a ceramic vessel that held the medieval riches. ‘The vessel itself, buried only 30 centimeters [nearly 12 inches] under the ground, was completely preserved — only the lid/the upper part was missing,’ he said.
After realizing the hoard’s incredible value, Kędzierski and his team called in local volunteer firefighters to guard the treasure until the excavation was complete, according to The First News, a Polish news outlet.”
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