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Archaeologists in Germany have unearthed more than 1,500 medieval silver coin after a citizen unexpectedly noticed what looked like " small metal plates " while fag during a structure project .
The find " is the biggest treasure since 1949 in the region of Freiburg,“Andreas Haasis - Berner , an archeologist at the State Office for Monument Preservation in Stuttgart , told Live Science in an email .
Some of the 1,500 silver coins discovered in the Black Forest region of Germany.
The determination , which was made in May while doer laid pipe near a swimming consortium in the municipality of Glottertal , bear hint to what the excavation and coin trades attend like in the area 650 days ago , according to a translatedstatementfrom the Stuttgart Regional Council .
Back in 1949 , archaeologist in Freiburg ( also know as Freiburg i m Breisgau ) found about 5,000 coins from around the 1280s , but no medieval coins had been found in Glottertal , which is about 6 miles ( 10 kilometer ) northeast of Freiburg . Glottertal sits in the Black Forest quite a little in an area sleep with for its picturesque valleys and gloomy true pine forests , which are dotted with orchard and vineyard . Freiburg wasfoundedby the House of Zähringen , a dynasty decree by dukes from around 1120 to 1218 . When the Zähringer line ended , the city was take over by the House of Urach .
" Glottertal has been one of the most important excavation areas for the dukes of Freiburg , " Haasis - Berner said . " The site where the coins were come up was a chief settlement area for mineworker , " who unearthed metalssuch as silver .
The coins were mainly from Breisach and Freiburg, Germany, and Zofingen, Switzerland, and were minted in the 1320s.
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During the pipeline installation , Haasis - Berner received a call from Claus Völker , a Glottertal citizen who order he had found some coin during the construction project .
" The next morning , he examined the place a second prison term , and now , his wife recover a huge amount , " Haasis - Berner said . " Some minute later , I went to the place and dug about 1,000 coins . " In the days after the initial discovery , a few expert were add to the land site with alloy detectors . Despite the inauspicious weather conditions with rain and stifle - deep mud , the team managed to retrieve 500 to 600 more coins .
At the time the coin were minted in the fourteenth C , " you could have bought about 150 sheep with the coins , " Haasis - Berner say in the statement .
After a rough cleaning of the coin , the experts determined that the coins were likely minted in the 1320s and were mainly from what is now Germany , Switzerland and France .
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The Modern finding join four similar coin cache previouslyfound in the peachy regionthat date to the 1320s , Haasis - Berner said . " With these treasures , we can see which coins have been vulgar , " he said .
Importantly , the latest find sheds brightness level on the Glottertal ’s chivalric history and economy , he take note .
" The rating of this coin hoard will enable us to make statements about the circulation of coin in Breisgau , the mint action in the mints , the silver trade , but also the mining in Glottertal , " Haasis - Berner sound out .
