He discovered a Roman ring with a detector he got from Santa Claus

Mike Burke (54) discovered a 2000-year-old Roman ring in the front garden of his house in Cornwall. He managed to find it with a metal detector he got for Christmas from his wife.Thejewel depicts Ceres - the Roman goddess of crops and grain.

The ring is made of gold and is now being examined by the relevant liaison officer. It's waiting to be declared a treasure. Burke has only been treasure hunting for a year. He got his first metal detector from his wife for Christmas in 2020. Burke got his detector Garrett Ace Apex.

Burke found his biggest "treasure" find to date just before the end of 2021. The ring dates from around the first to second century AD. The finder is a retired military policeman turned math teacher. He handed the jewel to the relevant liaison officer at the Cornish Life Museum.

Burke discovered the ring in West Cornwall. According to historians, it is not generally believed that Roman influence reached this area in the past. But the new find may change that theory.

"I found the ring in our garden. I couldn't look there before because my wife is an avid flower grower. But at the end of the year, the plants were dry and we were going to rake the whole garden. So I figured my wife wouldn't mind if I went through the place with a metal detector," the prospector recalled.

He spent 20 years in the US Army as a military policeman, seven of those as a prison guard in military prisons, and now works as a maths lecturer at a local college in Penzance.

Since taking up metal detecting, he has found it the perfect way to relax. "Even when I'm out with a group of forty other people, I put on my headphones, go for a walk in the field and I'm completely alone in peace and quiet. All I hear is the beeping of the metal detector," Burke added.

His previous discoveries include a two-penny coin from the 1970s, halfpennies from previous decades and a tin teddy bear that may have been part of a child's rattle. After finding the suspicious Roman ring, he rinsed it lightly with water and posted photos of it on a Facebook metal detecting group, asking if anyone knew what the jewelry was. He got a quick reply that it was treasure and he needed to contact a liaison officer.

The provisional theory is that it is a Roman engraving ring made of gold and weighing 12.8 grams. It depicts Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain, justice, peace and motherhood, engraved in a chalcedony gemstone. "Every day when I look at the ring, I still get the shivers. I just can't imagine finding something like this," the finder admitted.

Sources: www.dailymail.co.uk