A nearly 70-year-old map marked with an “X” and five copper coins could hold the key to a discovery that has the potential to alter Australia’s history.
Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, who serves as Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University in the US, is organizing an expedition this July that has ignited interest within the archaeological community.
He seeks to revisit the site in the Northern Territory where five coins were uncovered in 1944, which have been dated to be 1000 years old. This raises intriguing possibilities that seafarers from distant lands may have arrived in Australia much earlier than the currently accepted timeline.
In 1944, amidst World War II and following the Japanese bombings of Darwin two years earlier, the Wessel Islands—an uninhabited cluster of islands off Australia’s northern coast—became strategically significant for the mainland’s defense.
Stationed on one of these islands, Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg was manning a radar station and enjoyed fishing on the tranquil beaches during his downtime.
While sitting in the sand with his fishing rod, he stumbled upon a collection of coins hidden in the sand.
Uncertain of their origins, he pocketed the coins and later stored them in a tin.
In 1979, he rediscovered this “treasure” and chose to send the coins to a museum for identification.
To his surprise, the coins were dated to be 1000 years old.
Not fully comprehending the rarity of his find, he marked an old colleague’s map with an “X” to indicate where he discovered them.
This significant finding was seemingly forgotten until anthropologist McIntosh reignited interest a few months back.
The presence of these coins raises numerous critical questions:
How did these ancient coins find their way onto a secluded beach on an island off Australia’s northern coastline?
Did explorers from far-off lands reach Australian shores long before Captain James Cook labeled it “terra nullius” in 1770 and claimed it for the British crown?
What’s already known is that Captain Cook was not the first white traveler to land on Australian soil.
In 1606, Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon arrived at Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, soon followed by another Dutch navigator, Dirk Hartog.
Additionally, Spaniard Luiz Vaez de Torres discovered the strait that now bears his name, separating Papua New Guinea from Australia.
However, none of these explorers realized they had encountered the legendary southern continent referred to as the “terra australis incognita,” often illustrated as a counterbalance to the landmasses of the northern hemisphere on various contemporary world maps.
According to McIntosh and his team of Australian and American historians, archaeologists, geomorphologists, and Aboriginal rangers, the five coins can be traced back to the 900s to 1300s.
These coins originated from the former Kilwa Sultanate, which is now a World Heritage site located on an island off Tanzania.
Kilwa was once a prominent trading hub with connections to India during the 13th to 16th centuries.
The trade route, dealing in gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian stoneware, Persian ceramics, and Chinese porcelain, made Kilwa one of East Africa’s most influential trading towns at that time.
According to McIntosh, those copper coins were the first ever produced in sub-Saharan Africa, and have been discovered outside Africa only twice—once in Oman, and once in Isenberg’s 1944 find.
Though the ancient coins may lack monetary value, they are considered invaluable by archaeologists, as stated by McIntosh.
For years, archaeologists have speculated about the existence of early maritime trading routes connecting East Africa, Arabia, India, and the Spice Islands over 1,000 years ago.
Alternatively, the coins may have washed ashore following a shipwreck.
Alongside the copper coins, Isenberg also uncovered four coins from the Dutch East India Company—one dating back to 1690, which recalls the early Dutch mariners who arrived in Australia long before Cook.
McIntosh aims to uncover some of these puzzling mysteries in his upcoming expedition to the Wessel Islands in July.
His journey will not only focus on revisiting the beach that Isenberg marked with an “X.”
He also intends to search for a concealed cave, as suggested by Aboriginal legends.
It is believed that this cave is near the location where Isenberg discovered the coins and is said to contain ancient doubloons and weaponry.
If McIntosh and his team succeed in their quest, their find could prove to be not just an invaluable treasure, but artifacts that might fundamentally alter the narrative of Australian history.
