Treasure hunter digs up Roman coin haul
Source: Agencies |
July 9, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A TREASURE hunter has found about 52,500 Roman coins, one of the largest such finds ever in Britain, officials said yesterday.
The hoard, which was valued at 3.3 million pounds (US$5 million), includes hundreds of coins bearing the image of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, who seized power in Britain and northern France in the late third century and proclaimed himself emperor.
Dave Crisp, a treasure hunter using a metal detector, located the coins in April in a field in southwestern England, the Somerset County Council and the Portable Antiquities Scheme revealed.
The coins were buried in a large jar about 30 centimeters deep and weighed about 160 kilograms in all.
Crisp said a "funny signal" from his metal detector prompted him to start digging. "I put my hand in, pulled out a bit of clay and there was a little radial, a little bronze Roman coin - very, very small, about the size of my fingernail," he said in an interview with the BBC.
He recovered about 20 coins before discovering that they were in a pot, and realized he needed expert help.
"Because Mr Crisp resisted the temptation to dig up the coins it has allowed archeologists from Somerset County Council to carefully excavate the pot and its contents, ensuring important evidence about the circumstances of its burial was preserved," said Anna Booth, of Somerset Council.
The hoard is one of the largest ever found in Britain, and will reveal more about the nation's history in the third century, said Roger Bland, of the British Museum.
The hoard, which was valued at 3.3 million pounds (US$5 million), includes hundreds of coins bearing the image of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, who seized power in Britain and northern France in the late third century and proclaimed himself emperor.
Dave Crisp, a treasure hunter using a metal detector, located the coins in April in a field in southwestern England, the Somerset County Council and the Portable Antiquities Scheme revealed.
The coins were buried in a large jar about 30 centimeters deep and weighed about 160 kilograms in all.
Crisp said a "funny signal" from his metal detector prompted him to start digging. "I put my hand in, pulled out a bit of clay and there was a little radial, a little bronze Roman coin - very, very small, about the size of my fingernail," he said in an interview with the BBC.
He recovered about 20 coins before discovering that they were in a pot, and realized he needed expert help.
"Because Mr Crisp resisted the temptation to dig up the coins it has allowed archeologists from Somerset County Council to carefully excavate the pot and its contents, ensuring important evidence about the circumstances of its burial was preserved," said Anna Booth, of Somerset Council.
The hoard is one of the largest ever found in Britain, and will reveal more about the nation's history in the third century, said Roger Bland, of the British Museum.
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