This is what you will learn when you read this story:
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A metal detector discovered old gold coins in the Netherlands that turned out to be a ritual offer of cult.
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Experts believe that the money that remained in the place was “the devil’s money”, an offering to the pagan gods.
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The site of worship probably had ties with summer and autumn equinoxes thanks to the discovery of the pole holes aligned seasonally.
A metal detector recently found a cache of more than 100 gold and silver coins buried underground in the Netherlands, which led archaeologists to investigate the site more thoroughly. But now knowing what the coins were there, maybe archaeologists should have left them alone.
According to a study published in Medieval archeology, The coins, which sat buried for 1,300 years in the Netherlands, were probably used in worship rituals, and more around the site, archaeologists discovered the remains of a site of outdoor cult of the seventh century. It is more than plausible than the cache of the coins was what was known as “Devil Money”, offers of common currencies in pagan cult sites.
Metal detectors made the finding near Hezingen, a village near the Netherlands border with Germany. The coins are around 700 AD, including some rare findings of the Mentas of the Frankish Empire, and were found together with metal jewels in 2020 and 2021.
There were a series of clues that helped archaeologists deduce that the site where the coins were found once the land of a cult was once. There were rows of positions, evidence of a great residence in a clear near an old road crossing in a high prominent landscape, remains of animal sacrifices and more. They also determined that the gold coins and jewels were placed there in intervals for more than 100 years and interspersed with animal sacrifices, making it clear that the site once served as a location of ritual sacrifice for the pagan gods.
The archaeologists, led by Jan-Willem of Kort of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, placed the signs of an old structure, probably since the seventh century, as well as 17 postholes for wood posts that were aligned with spring and autumn equinoxes, which linked the site to seasonal harvest rituals.
“The cult site was probably linked to a nearby status settlement with a worship house or closed ceremonial building,” the study authors wrote. “The offerings may have been linked to fertility rites, since the positions were aligned with the increase and environment of the sun during spring and autumn equinoxes.”
In total, gold and silver coins were discovered in three areas. A site had only one gold coin, while another had 24 fragmented or complete gold coins, along with silver and gold jewels. The third site had gold coins and jewels. “I think that this cult site was mainly used by local elites to emphasize their own status and, of course, you do it preeminently with value objects,” said Kort, according to Phys.org. “The findings in the other cult sites are probably more the result of personal offers and, therefore, less precious.”
The use of the site by the elites and the moment of everything raises questions about the emergence of Christianity in the area. The use of the site was reduced in the 700s, says the study, before the emergence of Christianity in the region, which leads the authors of the study to theorize that the leaders of the area could have resorted to Christianity before others.
As the outstanding missionary texts are explained, so that the pre -Christian groups convert to Christianity, they would have to stop worshiping the pagan gods and leaving the sacrifice of the so -called “devil’s money.” Since Hezingen was abandoned by the beginning of the seventh century when Christianity began to spread, the authors of the study suggest that the city leaders, which, as evidenced by the value of gold and silver, were some of the first in the area to become Christianity.
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