Scientists Andrei Gomzin and Oleg Proshkin from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences put into scientific circulation a hoard of silver oriental coins discovered on the territory of the Kaluga region in 2008 during excavations of the so-called Devil’s settlement. As it turned out, the oldest coins from this hoard were minted in the 6th century AD and reached the territory of modern Russia in the 9th century. The owner of the fortune never returned for him.
RAS Institute of Archeology
Silver drachmas and dirhams were found in the treasury.
The treasure of the devil’s settlement consists of 22 complete coins and 23 preserved fragments. They were minted in silver in the East.
“This is one of the few reliable complexes illustrating the initial period of the arrival of oriental silver coins to Poochye along the Don trade route,” write the authors of the scientific work.
The treasure is interesting because it demonstrates the existence of connections between the population of the Oka basin with the Khazar Khaganate and the Muslim East, since silver drachmas and dirhams were found in its composition.
By the way, the Chertovo Gorodishche tract is located five kilometers northeast of the town of Sosensky, Kozelsky district, Kaluga region, and was first discovered and studied in 1987.
Remains of defensive structures containing almost all the construction techniques characteristic of the fortified settlements of the Romny culture of the 9th-10th centuries were found in a section of the northeastern wall of the settlement. The fortress must have been burned: during excavations, archaeologists found layers of red-hot sand and burnt stones. Scientists assume that this happened in the first half of the 10th century, since no artifacts from a later era have yet been found here.
Discovered in 2008, the coins were scattered over an area of approximately 18 square meters. However, the nature of its appearance allowed the find to be interpreted as a treasure and not just a collection of individual coins.
The analysis showed that 30 coins have notches on one or both sides, two dirhams have graffiti in the form of unclear lines and two more have a round hole. Some specimens show signs of exposure to fire. In four cases they fused together and scientists could not separate them.
One of the main secrets was the chronology: when did the coins arrive on the territory of the current Kaluga region?
The study showed that the oldest coin in the hoard was a coin from the Sassanid era (590-628), probably minted in Fars. The youngest is a coin from the Abbasid period, minted in Samarkand around 813-814. And most of the coins, specifically 29, belong to the Abbasid era.
As scientists write, the complete absence of Harun al-Rashid dirhams of Asian mintage, which are quite numerous in chronologically later treasures, is notable. It has not yet been possible to explain this feature.
