Diver Uncovers Massive Haul of Ancient Roman Coins — It May Lead to a Hidden Shipwreck

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Diver Uncovers Massive Haul of Ancient Roman Coins — It May Lead to a Hidden Shipwreck

A diver just stumbled upon a bounty of ancient coins off the coast of Italy.

Cultural ministers believe the that find could point toward an unknown lost shipwreck in the region.

The bronze and copper coins were originally minted in Rome.

A diver stumbled across the find of a lifetime off the coast of Sardinia when a stray shiny item loosened itself from the sea grass below. That metallic sheen turned out to herald a bounty ofmore than 30,000 bronze and copper coins minted in

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during the fourth century.

“The

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found in the waters of Arzachena represents one of the most important discoveries of numismatic finds in recent years,” Luigi La Rocca, director general of archaeology, fine arts, and landscape for the region, says in a translated

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from the Italian culture ministry.

Near the town of Arzachena, divers were trolling an area of sandy clearing near the beach that was also surrounded by seagrass. That one

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soon yielded tens of thousands of others, all in an “excellent and rare state of preservation” and dating back to between 324 and 340 AD. The ministry says that, thanks to the weight of the coins, there could be at least 30,000 of them and as many as 50,000. That would make this one of the largest ancient coin finds in the past few decades.

And, if we’re lucky, it may even point to a completely undiscovered hidden

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.

The

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makeup of the region has the potential to preserve a lost shipwreck, which could explain the finding of so many coins in one spot. While there is no news yet of a wreck being found, experts remain hopeful that one could turn up after further investigation.

Right now, we will have to content ourselves with the excitement of the huge bounty of coins discovered littering the seafloor. The follis coins—found in both

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and copper—were used first by the Romans and then later by the Byzantine Empire.

When the divers first saw the coins, they

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and art protection squad drivers joined with the ministry’s undersea

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department, firefighter divers, and border police divers to dig into the area. Alongside the coins, the divers also located walls of narrow-necked ***** with two handles, which also helped point experts towards the idea that a shipwreck may be nearby.

“(The finding) highlights the richness and importance of the archaeological

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that our seabed, traversed by men and goods since the earliest times, still guards and preserves,” La Rocca said.

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