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The Controversial Origins of the Maine Penny

The Controversial Origins of the Maine Penny, A Norse Coin found in a Native American Settlement

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Christopher Columbus is often remembered as the first European to discover the Americas, eventually leading to the colonization of these two continents by European powers. It is undeniable that Columbus’ voyage has earned him a place in history, however, he was not the first European to set foot in the New World. Such a title belongs to the Vikings who explored part of North America several centuries before Columbus.

The Maine Penny

The Maine Penny. Credit: www.mnh.si.edu.

Literary evidence for the Viking exploration of North America can be found in the Vinland Sagas. These were two Icelandic sagas written in the 13 th century regarding the Norse exploration of North America undertaken about two centuries earlier. As for archaeological evidence, the Norse presence in North America is perhaps best seen in the Viking settlement of L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. Regarding Norse artifacts, it has been claimed that of the two dozen or so objects found in North America, only one can be securely dated. This is the Maine Penny.

The Maine Penny was discovered on 18 of August 1957 by an amateur archaeologist by the name of Guy Mellgren. Mellgren found the coin at the Goddard prehistoric archaeological site, which contained the remains of an old Native American settlement, at Naskeag Point, Brooklin, Maine. It was only about 20 years later, however, that the significance of the coin was revealed. In 1974, the Maine Penny, along with 20,000 (or 30,000) other artifacts discovered at the Goddard archaeological site were donated to the Maine State Museum.

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Initially, the Maine Penny was identified as an English penny from the 12 th century, perhaps brought to Maine by English colonists. In 1978, the artifact was examined by experts from London, who speculated that the coin might have been Norse. Subsequently, an expert on Norse coins from the University of Oslo, Kolbjorn Skaare, confirmed that the Maine Penny was indeed a genuine coin from the Norse world. Furthermore, it was established that the coin was struck sometime between 1065 and 1080 during the reign of King Olaf III. The occupation of the Goddard site, however, has been dated to between 1180 and 1235. Nevertheless, the type of coin struck by Olaf III was circulating widely during the 12 th and 13 th centuries, thus placing the Maine Penny within the circulation period of such coins.

Coin cited as similar to the Maine Penny.

Coin cited as similar to the Maine Penny. (Coin of Olaf III of Norway) Public Domain

Given that the Goddard site was occupied by a Native American settlement, the presence of this Norse artifact is indeed odd. Despite the presence of the Maine Penny, subsequent excavations at the site in the 1970s failed to yield any additional Norse artifacts. This suggests that it is unlikely that the coin was brought by Vikings who travelled all the way to Maine. One plausible explanation for the presence of the coin at the Goddard site is that it was a traded object.

Other artifacts from the site, such as one identified as a Dorset Eskimo burin, suggests that the Goddard site was a hub in a large Native American trade network. The Maine Penny also had a perforation for use as a pendant, perhaps indicating that the Native Americans who possessed the coin transformed its function from a form of currency to an exotic ornamental object. 

The lack of proper archaeological recording, however, has led some to question the provenance of the coin, believing that the Maine Penny is a hoax, perhaps deliberately planted at the site to create confusion. The experts, however, are adamant that the Maine Penny is authentic, citing the fact that this type of coin is extremely rare and valuable, and that Mellgren paid no special attention to it when he found the object. Considering the information available at present, it may perhaps never be known whether the Maine Penny found its way to the Goddard site through Viking explorers or Native American trade networks.

Featured image: Painting detail, Nicholas Roerich "Guests from Overseas". Public Domain, and, Maine Penny, Credit: www.mnh.si.edu. Deriv.

References

Bourque, B. J., 2011. Twelve Thousand Years: American Indians in Maine. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Brown, D. O., 1979, 'Expert Confirms Authenticity of Norse Penny Found in Maine’,  Florence Times – Tri Cities Daily 8 February, p. 8.

Hoge, R. W., 2005. Current Cabinet Activities. [Online]
Available at: http://ansmagazine.com/Spring05/Cabinet

Homren, W., 2009. Query: The Maine Penny. [Online]
Available at: http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n50a17.html

www.historychannel.com.au, 2015. Mysterious "Maine Penny" Discovered. [Online]
Available at: http://www.historychannel.com.au/classroom/day-in-history/761/mysterious-maine-penny-discovered

www.mnh.si.edu, 2015. Vinland Archaeology. [Online]
Available at: http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/vinland/archeo.html

By Ḏḥwty

 

Comments

The Vikings inhabited Greenland for quite some time-
Technically speaking,
Greenland is less than 20 miles from Canada,
at their closest point.

Greenland IS part of North America.

Columbus did not discover "AMERICA",
for America the country did not exist yet.

He was the first European ACKNOWLEDGED
to have arrived in the continent that is
NOW
called North America.

The Vikings lived in Greenland for CENTURIES.

They were leaving Greenland and moving Eastward about the time Columbus was arriving.

It is obvious that they were active in Canada-
Greenland,Canada,
Columbus' spot in the Bahamas and
Greenland are
ALL part of North America.

The funniest thing is that it is widely accepted
that the first explorers of Greenland were the aboriginal people from what is now called Canada.

So,
you could just as well say that
"Canadians" discovered Greenland before
the "Europeans" did....

One of the silliest "and saddest" ones is about Peary being the
"First Man to the North Pole".

If anything,his black assistant,
Matthew Henson,
probably got there before he did.

Peary stole his journals and wouldn't give them back for 10 years or so.

Henson took the higher ground,though,
and never stooped to his level.

There are many such stories,
good and bad,
about discovery.

the Hittites were definitely in contact with the ancient pre-Incan civilization in Peru and Bolivia

"wild white" = "wild wheat" lol

There's a new confirmed Viking site in Canada. Look up Point Rosee on google and find the CBC news item from last fall. In it a local tells the tale of his grandfather finding an uncovered but overturned boat on a sandbar in the local river estuary; three skeletons were underneath it. Sometime in the late 800s.

Point Rosee's satellite scan, part of which they've confirmed (almost), looks like a large longhouse or barn with many small outbuildings; but maybe only a repair station and pasture/farm indicating maybe a residential settlement nearby.

On the westernmost headland of Newfoundland at its southwestern corner. Makes sense that the southward route from the L'Anse-aux-Meadows way-station would take the flat water of the Gulf of St Lawrence south rather than round Newfoundland to the east through rougher weather and heavier seas..... indications from butternuts and wild white found at l'Anse-aux-Meadows were brought from New Brunswick - which indicates the several settlements in Vinland were maybe there; there's an island in Massachussetts just west of the Cape Cod Canal there's an island now a bombing range; has tons of petroglyphs...and a stone inscribed with runes saying "Leif Eriksson 1000 AD"

there's also a story of a warm country farther south, "Hope", where life was good; it lay beyond Vinland, how far isn't stated.

The Viking ship in the Bahamas isn't surprising, really, given their seafaring skills and adventurous spirit....and hey no winter, let's hang around a while and keep going.... I hope the boys had a good time on some of the islands before they lost their ship and maybe their lives.... maybe they lived out their days down there, who'd want to go back to Norway or Iceland after the Bahamas?.

Nor is the story of Quetzalcoaltl/Kukulcan and his red hair and ships either.

As to what happened to the last Greenlanders I'm guessing at least some of them knew of the warmer lands farther south and did the snowbird thing and retired there....

Ludvik's picture

I have readed about this coin before, and even if there are no proofs of viking presence in such lands, does not means that vikings never went there. There was also a curious discovery in Cuban north coast, in the 1950 decade, archaeologists discovered the remains of a wooden ship. By its shape, seemed to be a viking ship. The place was lost and has never been found again, although some pieces of wood were conserved, and were sent to study at Kon-Tiki museum. You can read an article about this here:

http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2012-08-04/un-cubano-cazador-de-miste...

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dhwty's picture

Wu

Wu Mingren (‘Dhwty’) has a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History and Archaeology. Although his primary interest is in the ancient civilizations of the Near East, he is also interested in other geographical regions, as well as other time periods.... Read More

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