Hoard of Roman coins discovered during construction in UK Blogging Sole

A hoard of Roman coins worth more than $125,000 has been discovered during a construction project in central England.

The hoard of gold and silver coins dates back to the reign of Emperor Nero of Rome, according to Worcestershire Museumswhich raises funds to bid on the coins and keep them in the county where they were found. The 1,368-piece hoard, known as the Worcestershire Conquest Hoard, was buried in a pot and unearthed by members of the public in late 2023, according to the museum.

“The treasure is one of the most significant archaeological finds in Worcestershire in the last 100 years,” the museum said.

Most of the coins are silver denarii, according to the museum, and only one gold coin was minted for a local British tribe in the area at the time of its creation. The pot itself was likely made in a pottery kiln in the area, the museum said. The coins were “almost certainly” brought to the area by Roman soldiers, a theory shared by the museum suggesting the coins may have belonged to a wealthy local farmer who made his money by supplying the army with grain and livestock.

“The treasure was collected and buried in a brief moment, when Worcestershire stood just on the edge of an expanding empire,” the museum said.

Dr Murray Andrews, senior lecturer in British archeology at University College London, said CBS Partner BBC News that the discovery was “remarkable”.

“It’s the most miraculous thing I’ve seen in the last 100 years,” he said. “It’s an important archaeological piece. It tells us what was happening here 2000 years ago, when the Malvern Hills may have been the frontier of the Roman Empire.

This is the third hoard of coins discovered in the area in the past 25 years, according to the BBC. In 2011, two metal detectors found a clay pot filled with 3,784 coins, the BBC reported, and in 1999, 434 silver coins and 38 pottery fragments were discovered.

If Worcestershire’s museums cannot raise the necessary funds, the last treasure will be returned to the finders or landowner and can never be put on public display, according to the BBC.

“What a fantastic find and so important for anyone interested in learning more about the county’s heritage,” Joint Museum Committee Chair Karen May said in a news release. “It is a true Worcestershire treasure, and it must be seen and enjoyed by Worcestershire residents for generations to come.”