MEDIEVAL KILWA COINS DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA

After Japanese bombers attacked Darwin, the Wessel Islands – off Australia's north coast – became a strategic position to help protect the mainland. Maurie Isenberg from the Royal Australian Air Force was stationed on one of the islands to man a radar station and spent his spare time fishing on the beaches. While sitting in the sand, he discovered a handful of coins – puzzled by them, he placed them in a tin and marked a map with an ‘X' to remember where he had found them.

It was not until 35 years later when he tried to sell the coins, that Mr Isenberg would become aware of the “treasure” he had found.

The coins proved to be 1,000 years old, and sparked the interest of the science community, including anthropologist Ian McIntosh – who dubbed them "priceless".

Prof McIntosh and his team of Australian and American historians, archaeologists, geomorphologists and Aboriginal rangers believed the five coins date back to the 900s to 1300s. The coins, believed to have originated in the medieval sultanate of Kilwa – an area which is now in Tanzania – led to speculation that parts of northern Australia were visited by other mariners from as far away as the Middle East and Africa.

Prof McIntosh wrote in a paper for the journal 'Australian Folklore,' that "the argument for the involvement of Kilwa traders and also the Portuguese is quite compelling".

While the theory could rewrite the history books, the academic admitted the coins may have simply washed ashore.

To read the complete article, see:
World War 2 'treasure map' tipped to rewrite history after experts left puzzled (https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1346273/world-war-2-archaeology-treasure-map-australia-wessel-islands-kilwa-coins-spt)

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