In an unprecedented discovery, over 5000 Ilkhanid coins were found in the historical site of Sultaniyeh Dome, the 14th century Iranian capital.

Dr. Aliasghar Mirfattah, the manager of the archaeological team working in this historical site, said, “The coins consist of over 5000 copper coins, weighing about 8 kg, and were found during excavations aiming at clarifying the architecture in the western tower of Sultaniyeh Dome.”

“The discovery of this amount of coins which is unprecedented in the history of the Iranian archaeology shows the dome consisted of industrial workshops. According to the historical documents, these coins belonged to a mint inside the dome and were part of the government property.”

According to the studies done on the main collection of the coins, the coins mainly belonged to 2 Ilkhanid kings, Sultan Ahmad Takoudar and Sultan Abu’saeed Bahadorkhan, the last Ilkhanid king.

The studied coins show at one side “Mohammad, God’s prophet” in Kufi calligraphy, and at the other side the names of Rashedin caliphs in Naskh calligraphy. Some of these coins show natural and geometrical forms at one side.

The archaeological team manager said that these copper coins didn’t have a special value, but they were used in transactions.

According to the existing histories, there were about 87 minting centers in the Ilkhanid period (1256-1336) including Tabriz, Shiraz, Maragheh, Isfahan, and Esfarayen. However 3 cities of Maragheh, Tabriz, and Sultanyeh were the most important Ilkhanid centers for minting coins.