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LargeMonty t1_iw202ks wrote

How long did these coins typically stay in circulation?

Is it likely this is evidence of some level of trade network that existed from northern Europe to the indigenous people in Greenland? And from there to Newfoundland?

Or is it more likely this arrived at some point after 1497?

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josephwb t1_iw2plqc wrote

That was what I was thinking, too: that it arrived at some later point. Rather then providing an estimate for the date the coin was deposited, it provides only an upper bound. For example, if I go bury a 100 year old coin in my yard, it does not mean it has been there for 100 years, but it does provide a maximum possible estimate (i.e., it could not have been deposited before it was minted!).

What is needed is the dating or other items within the same stratum. Maybe they've done this (seems like a no-brainer with something so potentially important) but the article does not mention much.

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OysterShocker t1_iw2h59c wrote

Yeah, how weird was it then to have a 50 year-old coin? Seems commonplace nowadays to come across a quarter from the 70s at times for example.

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Carbon_60 t1_iw2mmqq wrote

I saw a nickel from 1932 in circulation yesterday.

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TARANTULA_TIDDIES t1_iw3qb2x wrote

That is extremely uncommon in the US because coins before 1964 had silver in them and multiple generations of people have combed through lots of change to pull out the silver ones. I for example went through 500$ worth of quarters and found exactly 0 silver ones.

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fantasmoofrcc t1_iw3ubb9 wrote

Silver in Canadian coins was phased out in 1922 for nickels and 1968 for dimes/quarters/half-dollars/dollars. u/Carbon_60 may be talking about Canadian coins. Numismatics is neat!

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nullrout1 t1_iw51lbn wrote

Nickels don't contain silver. Spoiler alert: they contain nickel.

ETA: apparently during WWII they had 35% silver because nickel was in high demand for the war efforts.

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anewbys83 t1_iw45q4m wrote

The mint also withdrew many of them in a couple years.

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gitarzan t1_iw3p1u3 wrote

I’ve a theory on that. “Dad socks away old coins in underwear drawer. Kid finds coins a puts them back into circulation buying candy, etc.”

I used to run a store and a kid came in every few days and would spend old silver dollars and fifty cent coins. I now have them now in a jar in a closet. I suppose his Dad was really pissed when he found out.

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evilpercy t1_iw2soe8 wrote

I have Canadian bills ($1, $5, $100) from that time period, and a Russian 9 ruble bill from 1909. Never really thought how old they are now.

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KeberUggles t1_iw3vw70 wrote

we had 1$? I was around for the 2$.

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EMT2000 t1_iw51foi wrote

The Canadian dollar bill was only phased out around 1990; it wasnt that long ago. Reddit teens can go ask their parents about it, they don’t need to call grandma for this one.

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Aoiboshi t1_iw67khm wrote

I traded a 1915 dime out of a checkstand earlier in the year

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FLORI_DUH t1_iw3p6p0 wrote

I'm late to the party, but I do have a partial answer for you. Here is a coin from my personal collection that was minted in 1719 in South America, and was still in circulation in the Central American Republic ~150 years later (as evidenced by the countermark in the upper left). Hell, you can still find Indian Head pennies in circulation here, and they stopped in 1909. A couple hundred years of use isn't at all out of the question

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piponwa t1_iw3xvp3 wrote

It doesn't even require hundreds of years of use. By the time Cabot made it to Newfoundland, the coin was only 70 years old. To them it would have been a perfectly usable coin still when they brought it.

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Grant1972 t1_iw36350 wrote

In my opinion you are on the right path.

Norse/Vikings had established colonies and trade networks from Greenland back to Europe and these same Greenland colonies traded with 3 distinct indigenous groups in Greenland and modern day Canada (specifically Newfoundland and Labrador).

It’s important to consider “Vikings” weren’t exclusively raiders. If they came upon an undefended colony they would “raid”. If it was well defended they would “trade”.

The Greenland settlements lasted until the late 15th century when a famine/mini Ice Age occurred. The Thule people displaced the Norse in Greenland and would have also traded with the Beothuk in Newfoundland.

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War_Hymn t1_iw3c825 wrote

Didn't Norse settlement of Greenland predate the arrival of the Thule?

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Grant1972 t1_iw3m6l1 wrote

Yes, but from what I have read the Norse interacted and traded with the Thule. This is evidenced by Norse trinkets in Inuit areas in present day Canada far beyond known Norse trade routes.

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Devil-sAdvocate t1_iw4toxi wrote

> traded with 3 distinct indigenous groups in...modern day Canada (specifically Newfoundland and Labrador).

What did they trade and where did they find it?

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Tiako t1_iw42oh4 wrote

Indeed, the problem with singular finds is that they may have singular explanations, which is why archaeology tries to build up data sets rather than just looking at individual artefacts.

This could be a sign of pre-Columbian activity (the much theorized Basque fishermen?) it could just be a keep sake someone was holding onto in 1530.

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[deleted] t1_iw3mh78 wrote

[removed]

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Devil-sAdvocate t1_iw4ut1o wrote

Vikings where certainly not the first ones there and they may even not have been alone. The prehistory of Greenland is a story of repeated waves of Palaeo-Eskimo immigration from the islands north of the North American mainland. Other cultures who inhabited the Island before the Vikings include, The Saqqaq culture: 2500–800 BC (southern Greenland). The Independence I culture: 2400–1300 BC (northern Greenland). The Independence II culture: 800–1 BC (far northern Greenland). The Early Dorset or Dorset I culture: 700 BC–AD 200 (southern Greenland).

There is general consensus that, after the collapse of the Early Dorset culture, the island remained unpopulated for several centuries but the Norse may not have been alone on the island when they arrived; a new influx of Arctic people from the west, the Late Dorset culture, may predate them. However, this culture was limited to the extreme northwest of Greenland, far (~1500 miles) from the Vikings who lived around the southern coasts. Some archaeological evidence may point to this culture slightly predating the Icelandic settlement.

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warhead71 t1_ixu520i wrote

No existing culture are the “first” anywhere - as it is. Besides maybe some very remote islands. The question is more what a native population is.

Other people in the thread talks about trade between Viking and tribes - there are little evidence of that - and they were heavily dependent on cows and European style living in general.

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LargeMonty t1_iw4ugn5 wrote

Uh, no

>From around 2500 BC to 800 BC, southern and western Greenland were inhabited by the Saqqaq culture.

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warhead71 t1_iw4v8he wrote

? - they are no more. Current Greenland natives are from a migration wave going through northern Canada. We all come from Africa (at least that’s the consensus)

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psibomber t1_iw4k3cz wrote

I was watching a Max Miller youtube video about pemmican and how early explorers and traders had to pretty much bury their return provisions in the ground to ensure their survival for the return trip (as early north america wouldn't have the infrastructure available where you could just buy provisions/order them to be made).

So I'm thinking if it wasn't something that arrived after, then an early explorer who got there but never successfully returned?

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badandy80 t1_iw2bb2k wrote

7-11 and their coin-hoarding. Based on my research anyway.

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twistedspin t1_iw3z0e0 wrote

This was a lump of gold that would have been a potentially useful thing to carry around for quite a while after 1497, even if the coin itself wasn't current.

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