16 September 2024
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(State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council)
An extensive medieval coin hoard was discovered in May of this year in Glottertal, Germany, during construction work.
Resident, Claus Völker noticed ‘small metal plates’ during construction work to lay an underground pipe near a local swimming pool at the beginning of May 2024. Immediately the find was reported to the State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) of Stuttgart Regional Council. On the day of the report, the site was visited by archaeologists and around 1,000 coins were recovered in the trench where the pipe was to be laid.
Above: During the laying of a pipe for a local swimming pool 'small metal plates' were spotted. (State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council)
The initial discovery was followed up with a visit by three detectorists certified by the LAD were also commissioned to search the trench. During the course of the search, and in spite of some adverse weather conditions, around 600 more coins were discovered.
Above: A total of 1,600 coins were discovered and came from various mints in Germany, Switzerland and France (State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council)
Related article: Hoard unearthed in northern Germany
The discovery of the coin’s marks one of the largest medieval coin hoards found in recent decades and provides valuable insight into the minting activity, silver trade and mining in the area. Experts began to assess the significance of the find and after some preliminary cleaning, Andreas Haasis-Berner, archaeologist at the LAD, said: ‘These are mainly coins from the Breisach, Zofingen and Freiburg mints, which were minted around 1320. There are also a few coins from Basel, St Gallen, Zurich, Laufenburg and Colmar.’
Related article: 12th Century coins found on Visingsö, Sweden
The mining history of Glottertal
The municipality of Glottertal lies in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district in Southern Germany. The mining history of the region goes back to the Roman times and archaeological artefacts which indicate iron smelting have been found dating back to this period.
The mining of silver in the region started in the 11th century and a 15-kilometre-long water channel, which supplied the mines with water, was built in 1284. Flooding of the mines during a period of war towards the end of the 12th century ended mining activities on a a large scale. Silver continued to be mined but on a smaller scale and during the 18th century, the mining of iron and baryte began. The last mines in the area, however, were closed before 1900.