:: N25 Waterford Bypass

The Umayyad dirham from Woodstown, Co.Waterford, which measures 9 mm by 7 mm by 1 mm.

Reverse of Umayyad dirham.

Archaeology & History:

From the Euphrates to the Suir

James Eogan, project archaeologist with Tramore House Regional Design Office, details the remarkable story behind one of the smallest and most exotic objects discovered at Woodstown.

Archaeological test excavations by Ian Russell and a team from Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd in advance of construction of the proposed N25 Waterford City Bypass uncovered a previously unknown site in Woodstown townland, on the southern bank of the River Suir, which had been used by Viking traders. One of the smallest objects found during the excavation was a fragment of a silver coin decorated with swirling designs and weighing c. 0.3 grammes.

It was immediately recognised as an unusual and exotic find. Initial examination by Mr Michael Kenny of the National Museum of Ireland confirmed its Near Eastern origin, however it was only after examination of photographs of the coin by Mr Gert Rispling, Curator of Islamic Coins in the Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm, that a definite identification could be made and the remarkable story of this coin’s long journey from the valley of the River Euphrates, in modern-day Iraq, to the banks of the River Suir, upstream from Waterford city, can be told.
The coin is fragmentary, but examination of the script and decoration thereon and comparison with more complete examples found elsewhere in Europe has allowed Mr Rispling to identify the coin as ‘an Islamic dirham issued by the Umayyad dynasty. The most characteristic part of an Umayyad dirham is sura 112 on the reverse, and part of it is clearly visible.’

While the name of the place where the coin was minted is not recorded on the surviving fragment, the distinctive annulet pattern on one side suggests it was minted in the Umayyad mint of Wasit, in the southern part of modern Iraq. According to Mr Rispling, it is most likely that this coin was minted between AD 741 and 743.

Umayyad dirhams were circulated widely in the Near East in the eighth century AD, and it is clear from finds of coins in hoards in eastern and northern Europe that the Vikings’ trade network extended as far south as the Black Sea and the eastern and western Mediterranean. It is likely that amber, furs and slaves were exchanged for silver. Looking at the distribution of hoards containing Islamic coins, it would seem that the main trade route was across the Caucuses (modern-day Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan) and up the river systems of western Russia, such as the Volga and Dneiper, to the Baltic. In the context of Viking trade it seems that these exotic coins were used according to their weight of silver. As a result, the coins were often cut into fragments; this is probably the reason why the Woodstown example is incomplete.

How much time elapsed between the minting of the coin in southern Iraq and its loss at Woodstown is not known. However, based on the evidence of Scandinavian coin hoards, coins such as this could have circulated for up to 150 years, being passed from one trader to the next, progressively making their way northwards from the mint in the Euphrates valley. By the time it reached the site at Woodstown, it was probably in the possession of and lost by a Scandinavian or Irish trader who had come to sell or purchase goods on the banks of the River Suir.