13.3.2010 1146 silver denarii
Categories: Minting - Numismatics , Treasures , Calendar , Nálezy nejenom s detektorem ve Velké Británii a Irsku
A depot of 1,146 silver denarii was found twelve years ago by a metal detector, Keith Bennett, in South Warwickshire. A year later, archaeologists tried to find out who hid the Roman coins.
The coins were hidden in a clay pot and buried at a depth of about twenty centimeters. Experts have estimated their value at several tens of thousands of pounds. They were declared a treasure in 2009.
It was examined by experts from the British Museum. Forty-two-year-old Bennett, who works at the central library in Leamington Spa, found treasure in Peter Turner's field in Stratford. "Keith was looking with a metal detector when he suddenly stopped. His detector started to emit a signal, so he started digging when he saw a large pot with hundreds of silver coins, "said the seventy-four-year-old farmer.
According to archaeologist Sarah Wear of the Warwickshire Museum, the top of the pot was damaged by the plow during plowing. "Some coins were therefore scattered around the pot, but most remained inside. The coins were probably buried in the ground for fear of losing them. There were no banks then, "said Wear.
The head of Emperor Augustus was stamped on many coins. The treasure is worth five times the annual salary of the average Roman soldier. The reason someone hid the coins was probably a reaction to the declining silver content of the coins during the reign of Emperor Nero. Later, the owner could speculate with the coins on the then financial market. The corruption of the Roman Empire at that time reached monstrous proportions.
Hundreds of coins bear the image of Emperor Augustus, while others date from around 63 AD. The depot also contains coins with the image of Emperor Caligula, little Nero and his mother, but also the Emperor of Tiberius. Counterfeits from North Africa with a very low silver content were also stored in the depot. "It is difficult to find out who the coins belonged to and how they actually got into such a collection of coins," said the archaeologist.
The value of the treasure was expected to be in the order of tens of thousands of pounds. Archaeologists declined to tell the exact location of the find for fear that thieves would go there to obtain an even more valuable treasure and completely devalue the site.
We wrote about this treasure here: Archaeological reports
Sources: www.dailymail.co.uk, www.business-live.co.uk
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