Archaeologists Just Found a ‘Treasure Trove’ of Era-Spanning Artifacts

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Archaeologists Just Found a ‘Treasure Trove’ of Era-Spanning Artifacts

Archaeologists with the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) made a series of discoveries at a dig site in Pacé, Brittany.

Artifacts found at the site range from the Late Bronze Age to the medieval era.

One item found was a well-preserved gold ring dating back to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D.

Archaeologists with the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) recently conducted a dig in Pacé, Brittany along the path of a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that dates to somewhere between the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D. According to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, the artifacts they found across the site cover an even greater span of time, offering a veritable treasure trove of objects spanning from the Late Bronze Age to the medieval era.

The discovery most prominently highlighted by both INRAP and Archaeology News is that of a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

—the carved gemstone of which depicts Venus Victrix, the Roman goddess of victory. The ring, which experts dated to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., “features a finely chiseled mount and an intaglio crafted from nicolo, a type of onyx with a bluish surface over a ****** base,” according to the online magazine. A status symbol in its era, such a ring was used by Roman elites as both a piece of jewelry and a seal.

Nearby the site of that discovery, INRAP uncovered a treasure from a much different empire—one that, judging from the well-preserved nature of the artifact, may have been under a great deal of distress.

“A particularly striking find was a cache of a dozen silver coins from the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, dating to the 9th or 10th century,” Archaeology News reported. “These coins were uncovered in an exceptional state of preservation, possibly deposited during the Viking Age when the Carolingian Empire was under pressure from

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. While the settlement was abandoned by the 10th century, it remains unclear if Viking activity directly caused this.”

Almost as though to bridge the gap between the activities of these two empires in the area, INRAP also uncovered the remnants of a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, which they date to some time between the 5th and 10th centuries. Offering insights into the building techniques of the medieval *******, the remnants included “quadrangular plots connected by pathways, included houses, pastures, cultivation areas, and silos for grain storage.”

Some stray artifacts discovered at the site date even further back. INRAP experts found pottery fragments and terracotta molds that date back to the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, suggesting the possibility that the site was once home to a Bronze age workshop that used the terracotta molds to forge swords and other weaponry. Elsewhere, Early Iron Age enclosures—including a possible funerary circle—were also unearthed.

The span of time these items cover, and the social strata they likely stem from, together paint a unique archeological portrait of the political and technological

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of the area across centuries.

You Might Also Like

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Archaeologists #Treasure #Trove #EraSpanning #Artifacts

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up