An amateur with a metal detector has discovered a trove of almost 1,000 silver medieval coins from different countries believed to have been minted between 1500-1600 which were buried in a field in the southern county of Dambovita.
The unnamed man from the capital Bucharest alerted authorities of the find, and on Monday archaeologists from the Targovsite Curtea Domneasca Museum and officials from the government department for culture and cultural heritage accompanied him, armed with metal detectors, to the field where he’d found them near the village of Sabiesti.
News.ro reported that the 980 coins are of Spanish, Romania, Polish and Turkish origin and date back to the 16th century. The field where they were found_ halfway between the capital Bucharest and the town of Targoviste _ is not on a known archaeologic site.
“This morning police from the criminal investigation service and two archaeologists went to collect the 980 coins which were discovered by a Bucharest man,” the Dambovita police department said.
Police said that the man had a permit to own a metal detector.
Wallachia was a place of strategic importance during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Ottoman Empire increasingly relied on Wallachia and another Romanian province, Moldavia, for the supply and maintenance of its military forces.
