(Photo: City Council of Tomares/AP)
Construction workers in Tomares, Spain were laying pipe when they found 19 amphorae (ceramic jars) containing 1,300 pounds of bronze and silver coins that date back to 4th Century A.D. The Seville Archaeological Museum says that they were probably minted in the area and then stored to pay soldiers and government officials. The Guardian quotes archaeologist Ana Navarro:
Navarro declined to give a precise estimate for the value of the haul, saying only that the coins were worth “certainly several million euros”.
The coins are stamped with the inscriptions of emperors Maximian and Constantine, and they appeared not to have been in circulation as they show little evidence of wear and tear.
It is thought they were intended to pay the army or civil servants.
“The majority were newly minted and some of them probably were bathed in silver, not just bronze,” said Navarro.
-via Atlas Obscura