X-rays Identify 900-Year-Old Magnus Barefoot Coin, One of About 100 Known

2 articles · Updated · Popular Science · Jul 10

X-ray imaging confirmed that a small object found near Utstein Abbey was not a button but a rare late-11th or early-12th century coin from King Magnus Barefoot’s reign.
Morten Eek revisited the find months later after spotting a cross motif; archaeologists then determined its copper back was a later modification, likely added so the coin could hang from a chain or cord.
The scan revealed a griffin-like design hidden beneath the copper plating, while a fragmentary inscription remained too incomplete to read without damaging the artifact.
Only about 100 Magnus Barefoot coins are known, and researchers say the piece could help trace where it was minted and how coin production was organized at the end of the Viking era.