Ankur Desai
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He was on the throne in the first half of the 12th century, and it was during his reign that the first coins being used in Scotland were actually minted in the country.
Prior to that time, they were made outside.
The earliest such coin has now been acquired by the National Museum of Scotland, prompting the headline Saved for the Nation After 900 Years.
It was actually discovered nearly two years ago by a metal detectorist in woods in central Scotland.
My colleague Julian Warricker has been hearing more from a senior curator of medieval archaeology and history at National Museum Scotland, Dr Alice Blackwell.
This is a really tremendous discovery for Scotland and for our understanding of the early Scottish Kingdom.
It's the first coin struck within Scotland at a proper Scottish mint that's known to have survived.
I have, yeah.
Presumably it was buried in this one place where it was found for all of its lifespan, was it?
It was probably just a simple casual stray loss.
which reads Edinburgh, which is the name of the mint, and Erebald, which is the name of the moneyer, the person that was in charge of minting coins at that mint.
You mentioned the man with the metal detector.
He is now ยฃ15,000, the equivalent of $20,000 better off as a result of this discovery, isn't he?
Next we're on the trail of bird poachers in Beijing.
Police across China are cracking down on the illegal wild bird trade in a bid to bring back songbirds to the skies above the country.
Around the world, birds migrate to warmer climates for winter.
But in China, poachers mount deadly nets on bamboo poles to catch and sell the birds for profit.
Around half of all wild birds caught in China are endangered species.
A China correspondent, Laura Bicker, followed dedicated conservationists who patrol the fields of Beijing during the peak bird migration season.
Silva Gu's eyes scan the horizon for any signs of life in the darkness as we drive towards a large stretch of grassland.