Fire, flood or disaster · 13.11.1939
Arab silver dug up at Põltsamaa
Põltsamaalt leitud araabia hõberahad
In autumn 1939 a farm labourer, digging on a businessman's plot just outside Põltsamaa, turned up a large handful of old Arab silver coins. They were passed to the heritage inspector, and a student sent to the spot sieved the soil and found more coins, a whetstone and pieces of a knife, signs that people had lived there in the late Iron Age. The coins were thought to be from the 10th century. Two thirds of them were halves, a clue that silver was then weighed rather than counted: a coin worth too much was simply chopped in two.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
1939. aasta sügisel kaevas üks põllutööline Põltsamaa linna lähedal ühe ärimehe krundil välja peotäie vanu araabia hõbemünte. Need anti muinsuskaitse inspektorile ning kohale saadetud üliõpilane sõelus mulda ja leidis veel münte, tahukivi ja noatükke – märke, et seal elasid inimesed nooremal rauaajal. Münte peeti 10. sajandi omadeks. Kaks kolmandikku neist olid poolikud, mis viitab, et hõbedat tollal kaaluti, mitte ei loetud: kui terve münt oli liiga suur tasu, raiuti see lihtsalt pooleks.