Have you heard of a “chance discovery”?

It’s a discovery that was unintentional, meaning you weren’t out treasure hunting when you made the discovery.

That’s what happened to a group of archaeologists doing conservation work at a mosque in Delhi, India.

The archaeologists were on the site of Delhi’s Khirki Mosque when one of them uncovered a mud pot that happened to be filled with copper coins.

You may think that archaeologists would be unfazed by discoveries since making discoveries is part of their job description, but when they aren’t actively looking, it’s an exciting surprise.

N.K. Pathak, one of the superintending archeologists, said:

“As soon as the coins were discovered, there was a big halla. For archaeologists, discoveries like this are always exciting, no matter the value.”

Upon initial observation of the coins, they appear to be from the medieval period of Delhi. Another identifier of most Islamic coins are their inscriptions.

According to Shahmoon Ahmad, an assistant archaeologist:

“Most Islamic coins have inscriptions (what we call legends) on them — the name of the ruler and their father’s name. In this case, some of the coins had ‘Islam Shah Suri, son of Sher Shah Suri’ inscribed on them.”

A few other coins had a different style of writing on them that indicate a time period two decades before the reign of Islam Shah Suri.

This tells the archaeologists that the hoard of coins could be family savings from two generations.

There’s more information to be gained from the coins. So, as the coins have been sent off to be cleaned and further investigated, the archaeologists will continue their conservation work, with secret hopes of uncovering more treasure.