So, were these simple post and wattle houses really mints? Did metalworkers produce coins alongside copper brooches and iron nails? Or did they produce only the dies and not the coins themselves? The debate goes on but it is perhaps significant that one of the dies is damaged and the other well worn.
The presence of this collection of evidence for minting is intriguing; archaeologists and coin experts continue to try to understand the significance of these rare symbols of power and authority found in the simple huts of 10th century metalworkers in York.
Lead trial pieces:
find number 1980.7, 11133, catalogue number 48, width 21mm; find number
1980.7, 563, catalogue number 50, diameter 30mm; find number 1979.7, 4622,
catalogue number 59, length 153mm, width 44mm, thickness 1–2mm.
Iron coin dies: find number 1981.7, 13993,
catalogue number 49, diameter of face 30mm, diameter of die 22mm; find
number 1980.7, 9351, catalogue number 43, diameter of face 28mm, diameter
of die 20mm.
For more information see The Archaeology
of York 18/1, Post-Roman Coins from York Excavations 1971–81
by E.J.E. Pirie.
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