Mystery as ancient African coin found in Australia predates first Brit explorers by 750 YEARS
It raises fresh questions over which nation discovered the continent
AN ANCIENT coin from a medieval African city has been found over 10,000km away on a beach in Australia - predating the first Brit explorers by up to 800 YEARS.
Historian Mike Hermes, who found the copper coin, has said it "could change everything" we think we know about the history of global trade - sparking fresh debate over who discovered the continent.
In an interview with , Hermes said: "We’ve weighed and measured it, and it’s pretty much a dead ringer for a Kilwa coin and if it is, well, that could change everything."
Kilwa, an area located in modern day Tanzania in Africa, was an ancient medieval trading city.
Its coins were previously found in Australia in 1944 on one of the Wessel Islands, but debate over how they got there soon died down.
The new coin was found on the beach of the remote and uninhabited island of Elcho last July and could be up to 1,000 years old.
This find is significant because the earliest European contact with Australia still remains a much debated mystery.
British explorer James Cook is often famed for being the first Briton to land on the east coast of Australia in 1770 and lay claim to the continent.
Dutch sailors had already reached Australia earlier in 1606.
However, historians and archaeologists are still trying to work out who could have reached Australia before this without documenting it.
One explanation for the new coin discovery from the team of archaeologists who found it is that Portuguese traders visited Elcho Island to replenish their water supply from streams having come from raiding the city of Kilwa in 1505.
Other theories suggest that African traders from Kilwa brought the coins to Australian themselves or they could have washed ashore from a shipwreck.
Who was British explorer James Cook?
Here's what you need to know about the British explorer who led the first expedition to Australia...
- James Cook was born in 1728 in Marton, England
- He joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 18
- As he worked his way up through the ranks he was able to travel thousands of miles around the world to places that westerners had never been before
- He is most famous for the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and Hawaii and for being the first to sail all the way around New Zealand
- It is thought that the first European to set foot on Australia's east coast was actually Cook's nephew Isaac Smith
- Cook was killed by Hawaiians during his third and final expedition after a quarrel was started between the sailors and the natives, they stole one of his smaller boats and he tried to kidnap and ransom their king so they stabbed him to death
In other news, mysterious 800-year-old Spanish coins have been found in middle of USA that ‘predate Christopher Columbus by 200 year’ – leaving experts baffled.
archaeologists are continuing to race against grave robbers to find more ancient Dead Sea Scrolls and the treasure they could lead to.
And, a new study claims that cannibal human ancestors would kill and eat each other because it was 'more cost-effective' than catching animals.
What do you make of this ancient coin mystery? Let us know in the comments...
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