During a recent construction project in the United Kingdom, hundreds of denarii, the silver coins used during the Roman Empire, were uncovered. Their value has been totaled at more than $125,000.
According to the Museums Worcestershire, the coins found date back to the reign of Rome’s Emperor Nero. Along with the silver denarii were some gold coins. The stash included 1,368 coins and is known as the Worcestershire Conquest Hoard.
The coins were found buried in a pot and were unearthed by members of the public late last year, according to the museum.
“The Hoard is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Worcestershire in the last 100 years,” the museum said.
The majority of the coins are silver denarii, but there was a single gold coin — minted for a British tribe that was local when it was created — among the hoard, according to the museum.
The coins were “almost certainly” brought to the area by Roman soldiers, though only theories give reasoning as to why they were hidden. The museum says that one theory is they belonged to a wealthy local farmer.
“The hoard was assembled and buried during a brief moment in time when Worcestershire lay right at the edge of an expanding Empire,” the museum said.
While speaking with the BBC, British archaeology lecturer Dr. Murray Andrews shared that the discovery is“remarkable.”
“It’s the most miraculous thing I’ve seen over the last 100 years,” he said. “It’s an important piece of archaeology. It tells us about what was happening here 2000 years ago when the Malvern hills were maybe the boundary of the Roman Empire.”
The BBC reports that this is the third hoard of coins to be found in the area in the last 25 years. The other two were found in 2011 and 1999.
Last month, another discovery was made in Poland when archaeologists found ancient treasure while exhuming the grave of a World War II soldier.
The soldier was buried in the Wdecki Landscape Park, and while they were digging up his remains, they stumbled upon a collection of ancient ceramic pottery and coins from various points of European history.
Some of the pottery dates back to the Neolithic period, which is believed to have run from 7000-1700 BCE. There were also tools dating back to the Mesolithic period, which ended in 8000 BCE.
Some of the coins that were found dated back to the Roman and Byzantine empires. In total, around 30 coins were found.
“Our hunters came across coins scattered from different eras and territories all over Europe, it looked as if someone had discarded their coin collection right here!” the park said.