Scientists from the German Archaeological Institute and the University of Greifswald have unearthed a hoard of 1,200-year-old silver in a field outside Anklam, about 90 miles northeast of Berlin. The cache—which includes bars of the metal, an armband and 82 coins and coin fragments dating as far back as 610 and inscribed in Arabic—serves as proof that global trade had been established by the 7th century. According to lead researcher Fred Ruchhöft, the coins originated from areas in modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and northern Africa and were probably carried north and west by traders following routes along the Black and Baltic seas and rivers in the area to exchange goods at Slavic and Viking settlements.