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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TuckHard, post: 4534487, member: 102653&quot;]Hello everyone! I wanted to share a small selection of coins pulled from a much larger hoard of Arabic silver dirhams that was discovered in an ancient coastal port region in present-day Indonesia. The hoard has not been published or documented before this, and this sample of it was graciously shared with me for research purposes by the Sumatran Numismatic Museum, or <a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Uang_Sumatera" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Uang_Sumatera" rel="nofollow">Museum Uang Sumatera</a>, located in Medan, North Sumatra.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1122750[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1122761[/ATTACH] The hoard was discovered the in village of Jago-Jago by numismatists and was composed of a little over one hundred silver dirham coins. The photo above shows around forty coins from the find. The collection is an interesting time capsule and evidence of the strong influx of trade and influences from the Middle East, particular the Arabic Muslim merchants who dominated much of the Indian Ocean trade during the later portion of the first millennium which coincided with the general growth and expansion of Islam and it&#039;s kingdoms and caliphates. While Jago-Jago is not known to have been an ancient center, there are nearby rivers that are locally known for their gold production and it&#039;s likely that the gold industry in the area goes back to at least the 8th or 9th century, when these coins are thought to have been deposited.</p><p><br /></p><p>At the time, Sumatra was largely ruled by the Srivijaya Empire which was centered around Palembang, in South Sumatra. The Srivijaya had vassal states and kingdoms throughout Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and it&#039;s quite likely that, despite no known archaeological finds, the region around Jago-Jago was under some level of control by the Srivijaya. It is believed that the port of Barus, about 70 kilometres north along the coast, was under control of the Srivijaya and was a major source of the gold ore that was used to mint the Sumatran Gold Sandalwood coins. Perhaps the rivers near Jago-Jago were also known for their gold capabilities, and thus invited commerce into the area. That&#039;s a topic for another day, though.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another discovery from Jago-Jago came in 2001 when a statue of the Hindu deity <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha" rel="nofollow">Ganesha</a> was discovered. While photos of the Ganesha statue found in Jago-Jago were not readily available, I found a statue of Ganesha that is probably quite similar hosted <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/gaea-statue/cwH9wQ-I7L3Qdg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/gaea-statue/cwH9wQ-I7L3Qdg" rel="nofollow">here</a> on Google Arts and Culture, provided by <a href="https://www.museumnasional.or.id/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.museumnasional.or.id/" rel="nofollow">Museum Nasional Indonesia</a> in Jakarta, Java.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coins have remained generally unattributed beyond a general 8th and 9th century time frame but could provide a general look at the types of Arabic dirhams that were being used in the Maritime Silk Road trade through Sumatra.</p><p><br /></p><p>The following eleven coins&#039; photos were provided by the museum for posting, so here they are. Arabic coins are far from my specialty but I think that most, if not all of them, are issues of the Abbasid Caliphate.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1122777[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1122775[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This last coin is believed to be an AR drachme issued under Khosrow II of the Sassanian Empire, who ruled from 590-628 CE; quite a bit earlier than the rest of the hoard&#039;s coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1122776[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Hope everyone enjoyed looking at the world premier of the Jago-Jago Silver Dirham Hoard of North Sumatra, and if anyone has any similar coins, questions, comments, etc please feel free to share them. Thank you for reading this, and again, thanks to the Museum Uang Sumatera for providing the images and much of the information regarding it&#039;s discovery.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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