Archaeology & History

1000-year-old coins found in Australia

By T.K. Randall
May 20, 2013 ·  71 comments

Image Credit: CC 3.0 Gabriele Delhey Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg first came across the coins while stationed on one of the Wessel Islands during World War II. Having kept them for years in a tin for safe keeping, Maurie eventually got around to sending them to a museum to see if more could be learned of their origins. Incredibly, the coins turned out to be more than 1,000 years old, placing them centuries before Australia's discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606.

The finding of the coins was more or less forgotten until a few months ago when Australian scientist Ian McIntosh picked up the trail. Armed with five of the coins and a map left by Maurie showing where they had originally been found, McIntosh is planning an expedition to the island in an effort to locate more of them and to find any clues that might help to explain how they got there.[!gad]Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg first came across the coins while stationed on one of the Wessel Islands during World War II. Having kept them for years in a tin for safe keeping, Maurie eventually got around to sending them to a museum to see if more could be learned of their origins. Incredibly, the coins turned out to be more than 1,000 years old, placing them centuries before Australia's discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606.

The finding of the coins was more or less forgotten until a few months ago when Australian scientist Ian McIntosh picked up the trail. Armed with five of the coins and a map left by Maurie showing where they had originally been found, McIntosh is planning an expedition to the island in an effort to locate more of them and to find any clues that might help to explain how they got there.

Source: Stuff.co.nz | Comments (71)

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