That day, this woman did not imagine making a major archaeological and historical discovery. Exit take the air in the city of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic, she stumbles on a broken ceramic pot. Inside, more than 2,150 silver pieces from the 13the century buried for almost 900 years. The treasure is made up of medieval funds, reports the online media Popular Mechanics.
According to archaeologist Filip Velímský, “We can compare (the sum found) to win a million in the lottery”. The sum, colossal for the time, was probably hidden during a period of political instability between the members of the Přemyslides dynasty.
According to a press release from the Archeology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, based in Prague, the parts are the subject of meticulous catering work and will be subject to an X -ray imaging examination as well as a spectral analysis to determine the exact composition.
A booty forgotten in the middle of the war of power
The first Treasury analyzes show that the parts were struck in several places in the Kutná Hora region. Made of silver combined with copper and lead, they were probably created between 1085 and 1107, during the reign of three different Přemyslides leaders.
Filip Velímský tells: “At that time, there were conflicts in the country between the members of the Přemyslides dynasty about the princely throne of Prague.” The Central Bohemian region, where Kutná Hora is, was regularly crossed by rival troops struggling for this throne. The specialists assume that this reserve of documents could be used to pay the soldiers or to constitute a kind of boot of war.
Too large to belong to an individual, the sum had been hidden in a ceramic container supposed to protect them. The hiding place held its promises since for nine centuries, no one came to recover the loot, until this improbable discovery at the bend of a ride.
The Czech Museum of Silver in Kutná Hora plans to present the collection to the public in 2025. An exhibition that promises to attract the curious, as much for its historical value as for the incredible chance of its discovery.
