An early medieval hoard at Włynkowo

In the subject literature, the prevalent opinion is that in the local environment of Pomerania in the 11 th century, coins imitating Western European coins were manufactured. This conclusion was based on a discovery made in 1888 in Łupawa near Słupsk. In that location, a several-thousand-specimens large coin assemblage was found; together with silver clumps, bars, and adornments, they were deposited in the final decades of the 11 th century. The stamps employed for making these coins bore a resemblance to coinage from Germany, England, Denmark, as well as Bohemia, and were a group distinctive enough for numismatic terminology to adopt the term of “Łupawa imitations”, “Łupawa-type denarii”, or “Łupawa group”. Researchers concordantly classify to this group, predominantly, large series of coins that occur in the hoard of Karwna, Włynkowo, and Gliszcz. Due to the limited access to the Gliszcz and Łupawa coin series, a decision was made that the coin assemblage from a hoard unearthed before the year 1930 in Włynkowo should be analysed. Although we do not know the specific location of this discovery, it is clearly and directly associated to the transport-related role of the River Słupia and the settlement on the periphery of the Słupsk microregion. For each artefact, the share of specific elements was determined using specialist equipment by means of non-model semi-quantitative analysis, with distribution maps for their presence in the analysed microarea of a sample. In cross-section, most of the denarii that occurred in the Włynkowo deposit show a zonal structure with a gradually decreasing percentage of silver, which is the highest in the near-surface levels and, in turn, the lowest within the core characteristic of, depending on the type of alloy, either bronze or brass. Based on the examined Włynkowo assemblage, it can be claimed that we are dealing with a technologically simple mass production of a coin with a silvered surface imitating the full-value silver coin in East Pomerania in the second half of the 11 th century.

11th century · coin hoards · early medieval coinage · Pomerania · silver content · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts