Archaeologists Stumble Upon Ancient Pot of Gold Coins in Turkey

Archaeologists from the University of Michigan have unearthed a pot of gold coins in the ancient Greek city of Notion, located in what is now western Turkey. The team stumbled upon the hoard while excavating the courtyard of a house dating to the third century B.C.E.

“The coins were buried in a corner of the older building,” Christopher Ratté, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan and the director of the Notion Archaeological Survey, tells the New York Times’ Franz Lidz. “We weren’t actually looking for a pot of gold.”

The hoard, which is older than the house, appears to date to the fifth century B.C.E. Each coin features an image of a kneeling archer, and experts are trying to parse minor stylistic differences to put them in chronological order.

The coins are known as darics, a Persian currency likely minted in Sardis, a city 60 miles northeast of Notion. They were often used to pay soldiers—and according to the researchers, one daric was worth a whole month’s pay.

During antiquity, Notion was a frequent setting for military conflicts, with power shifting between Greek and Persian forces over the centuries. Between 430 and 427 B.C.E., the city was controlled by Persian sympathizers aided by “Greek and ‘barbarian’ mercenaries,” as the researchers say in a statement from the University of Michigan. In 427 B.C.E., an Athenian general launched a bold campaign to reclaim the city.

Ratté thinks such an event could explain why the coins were buried—and why nobody ever came to claim them. 

“The discovery of such a valuable find in a controlled archaeological excavation is very rare,” says Ratté in the statement. “No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it. So only the gravest misfortune can explain the preservation of such a treasure.”

However, Ratté says that several conflicts fit that description. For example, in 406 B.C.E., Athens and Sparta fought a major naval battle during the Peloponnesian War off Notion’s coast. The hoard could also plausibly be connected to these events. During such a period of upheaval, perhaps someone buried the coins to keep them safe. Still, military events are not necessarily linked to the coin’s burial.

“It is possible it was not associated with either of these dramatic events, but was simply the savings of a veteran mercenary soldier in a time and place when soldiers of fortune could make a lot of money if they were willing to risk their lives for the highest bidder,” Ratté tells the Times.

The researchers recently started new excavations in Notion, and they hope that upcoming finds can shed new light on the hoard. Meanwhile, researchers at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Turkey are analyzing the gold coins. 

Andrew Meadows, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the excavations, tells the Times that the newly discovered coins are quite rare. “This is a find of the highest importance,” he says. “The archaeological context for the hoard will help us fine-tune the chronology of Achaemenid gold coinage.”

Ratté notes that most surviving hoards of darics were found by looters, rather than archaeologists—and in those cases, information about their discovery is often sparse. 

“An archaeological find without contextual information is like a person suffering from amnesia—a person without memories,” he says in the statement. “It is still interesting and important, but the loss of knowledge is incalculable. In the case of this hoard, we know precisely where it was found, and we have a great deal of circumstantial evidence for when it was deposited.”

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.