A metal detectorist in Germany has uncovered one of the largest collections of Roman silver coins ever found in the country from the reign of Emperor Hadrian. The hoard, comprising more than 900 silver denarii, weighs approximately 7 pounds (3.1 kilograms) and was discovered about a year ago in a field near Wesseling, located just south of Cologne.
The find is now on public display at the Rhineland Regional Museum in Bonn (LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn). Based on the most recent coin, minted around A.D. 124 or 125, archaeologists date the burial to the period of Hadrian’s rule, which spanned from A.D. 117 to 138. However, the collection itself spans more than three centuries, with the oldest coins dating to 148 B.C. during the Roman Republic and the majority originating from the Flavian dynasty, including emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, between A.D. 69 and 96.
Oliver Riedl, the licensed metal detectorist behind the discovery, initially unearthed 15 coins before his device indicated a much larger deposit. “It was clear to me that there was something bigger in the ground here,” Riedl stated. He immediately notified authorities and ceased further digging. Riedl is state-licensed and trained by regional archaeological officials, distinguishing him from illegal detectorists who often compromise archaeological sites.
Archaeologists from the Rhineland regional government conducted a full excavation, removing the block of earth containing the coins intact for X-ray analysis before opening it. Erich Claßen, head of archaeology for the region, suggested the original owner likely accumulated most of the coins around A.D. 100 but did not bury them until the time of Hadrian. “We can only speculate about the motives, but very likely someone wanted to keep this money safe,” Claßen said, noting that banks did not exist at the time. He added that the owner likely died before being able to retrieve or pass on the location of the stash.
Marjanko Pilekić, a numismatist at the German Historical Museum in Berlin who was not involved in the excavation, highlighted the significance of the hoard’s location just inside the northern frontier of the Roman Empire, marked by the Roman limes along the Rhine. He told Live Science that this proximity suggests the coins were buried shortly after the latest coin was minted, unlike hoards found in “Barbaricum” beyond the empire, which were often interred much later.
Rahel Otte, the regional archaeologist who led the excavation, emphasized the substantial value of the treasure in the second century A.D. A Roman legionary’s annual pay under Hadrian was 300 denarii, with roughly half deducted for food and equipment. Consequently, Otte calculated that a soldier would have needed to save all disposable income for approximately six years to accumulate the wealth found in Wesseling. The identity of the original owner remains unknown, though they may have been a resident of a Roman estate in the area.
Leave a Reply