WELT publishes a report on the discovery of an ancient Greek coin in Spandau, Berlin.

“A 13-year-old student discovered a rare ancient Greek coin from the 3rd century BC in a rural area in Spandau. According to the monument protection authority, this is the first archaeological find from Greek antiquity in the city area.

The bronze coin dates to the period 281–261 BC and is a Hellenistic issue from the mint of Ilium, also known as Troy, in what is today northwestern Turkey. On the obverse is depicted the head of the goddess Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet, while on the reverse Athena appears holding a spear in her right hand and a distaff in her left.”

As WELT notes, “it was initially unclear whether this was an archaeological find or a modern collector’s item that had been lost. However, investigations by experts on site revealed clear signs of long-term use of the area as a burial site […] from the Bronze Age or the early Iron Age,” while the evidence also shows the area was used in later periods.

At the same time, “it has not yet been fully clarified how the coin reached northern Central Europe from ancient Greece. However, it is known that even in antiquity there were trade contacts between the Baltic region and the Mediterranean.”