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Tatjana Berga
CO I N S OF T H E K R I MU L DA S R AGA NA HOA R D
There are 25 known hoards in Latvia that include 10th/11th century Western Euro-
pean coins. Most of them have been found along the major waterways that served as trade
routes: the Daugava and Gauja rivers. Currently, seven such hoards are known in the basin
of the River Gauja: Lēdurga I, Lēdurga II, Cēsis, Branti and Krimuldas Ragana. Coins have
also been found on archaeological sites in the Gauja basin, namely the burial places of the
Gauja Livs and Latgallians: Umurgas Stūri, Krimuldas Baznīca, Krimuldas Tālēns, Allažu
Saknītes, Turaidas Pūteļi, Siguldas Saksukalns, Lielstraupes Pūricas, Drabešu Liepiņas,
Priekuļu Kampi, Priekuļu Ģūģeri, Trikātas Lubumuiža, Taurenes Lazdiņi and Launkalnes
Kalna Strantes.
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The burial sites have produced a total of about 50 coins, both dirhams
and Western European coins. These coins were deposited either as part of a burial rite or
as ornaments – coin pendants. The coins of the Krimuldas Ragana Hoard include seven
dirhams, ten Anglo-Saxon coins, one Danish coin, five Scandinavian imitations and 122
German coins. Out of the seven dirhams, only six could be determined, since they were
badly worn and had been used for a long time as pendants. The dirhams were determined
by numismatists Andrei Gomzin (Russia) and Ivar Leimus (Estonia). Of the dirhams, two
are from the Samanid dynasty, minted in Samarkand, and two are imitation Samanid
dirhams. One of the imitations may have been minted in Volga Bolghar. As is known, the
town of Bolghar on the Volga was a major trading centre, from which dirhams from the
East moved westwards. Arab traders very rarely ventured further than Bolghar: the coins
were taken westwards either by the Vikings or by other, local merchants. Of the dirhams
in the hoard, the youngest is Marwanid dirham of Mumahhid al-Dawla Abu Mansur, 997–
1010 AD (387–401 AH). Among the youngest coins there is also a dirham from the Ziyarid
Dynasty, minted in Amul in the late 10th century (977/978 AD). The only other finds of
Marwanid and Ziyarid Dynasty dirhams are in the Rezvov and Eversmuiža Hoards.
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The
dirhams found in Latvia are minted mainly in the first half of the 10th century, because
in this period dirhams flowed in particularly intensively. The flow of dirhams dried up in
the 980s, and there are very few finds in Latvia of dirhams minted at the end of the cen-
tury. The latest dirham in Latvia comes from the Eversmuiža Hoard: a Buid Dynasty coin
minted under the rule of Beh ad Daula, minted in 1012/1013.
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