A treasure with 1,000 coins was discovered in eastern Poland

According to Aria Heritage, this discovery was made by a person named Michal Lotis who, after losing one of his pieces of agricultural equipment on the ground, decided to find it with a metal detector. According to the Act on the Protection and Care of Historical Monuments of July 23, 2003, this person informed the Provincial Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments (WUOZ) in Lublin after finding the treasure.

In Poland, it is prohibited to carry out an amateur search for antiquities using a metal detector, whether for commercial purposes or for personal use, unless a permit has been issued by the local authorities. And as such, all items found must be reported and eventually become government property.

After the archaeologists’ inspection, it was found that the coins were deliberately placed in a ceramic jar in a layer of soil. This jar contains 1000 Lithuanian crown and shilling coins from the 17th century.

The total weight of the hoard is 3 kg and consists of layers of coins pressed into a jar, including 115 coins scattered as a result of agricultural activities, 62 heavily oxidized coins, and several pieces of cloth.

Why this jar was deliberately buried is still unknown. Treasures can be seen as a sign of unrest in those times, and often due to periods of conflict or to maintain financial security, people in the past buried their treasures in a safe place.

During the 17th century, the area was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was subject to a series of invasions by Russian and Cossack forces in 1655 and Sweden in 1656.

This treasure has been transferred for further study to the Archaeological Department of the South Podlasie Museum located in the city of Biała Podlaska in Lublin Province.

Translated by Asadullah Haqqani