Amateur Archaeologist Stumbles Onto Trove of Coins Dated to Constantine the Great’s Reign #archaeology #coins #switzerland #constantine #rome #romancoin

The clay pot contained 1,290 Roman coins. Archäologie Baselland

The Smithsonian Magazine website has an interesting story about the discovery of some Roman coins in Switzerland.  Dating to the time of Emperor Constantine (306 to 337 CE), the coins were found with a metal detector by amateur archaeologist Daniel Ludin.  He made his discovery in September 2021 in forest near Bubendorf, Switzerland, close to Wildenstein Castle.  The 1,290 coins  were just beneath the surface in in a clay pot.

In accordance with proper archaeological protocol, Lüdin reburied the pot and contacted local experts, who dated the cache of coins to the fourth century C.E., during the reign of Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306 to 337 C.E.). At the time, Switzerland was part of the Roman Empire.

Based on the coins’ composition—copper alloy and traces of silver—the treasure wouldn’t have gone far at the time of its burial. Instead, it was simply a large stack of “small change,” equal to about two months of earnings for a soldier, per the statement. Collectively, the coins amounted to as much as a single gold solidus, “a pure gold coin introduced by Emperor Constantine during the late Roman Empire that weighed about 0.15 ounces,” writes Live Science’s Laura Geggel.

Finding hidden coins from the late Roman period, which scholars define as roughly 250 to 450 C.E., is not unusual. Earlier this year, a badger in northwest Spain made headlines after digging up a hoard of more than 90 ancient coins, as Jack Guy reported for CNN in January. What’s different about the newly unearthed coins in Switzerland is their specific timeframe. The most recent specimens date to between 332 and 335 C.E.—a period of relative prosperity from which few Roman coin hoards survive.

“In troubled times, triggered by civil wars, incursions by neighboring ethnic groups or economic crises, many people buried their valuables in the ground to protect them from unauthorized access,” notes the statement, per Google Translate. “During the time when the pot from Bubendorf was hidden, there are hardly any comparable hoards in the entire Roman Empire. These years are characterized more by their political stability and some economic recovery.”