Amateur archaeologist discovers Germany's largest hoard of ancient Roman silver coins

An amateur archaeologist discovered several Roman silver coins in a field in Germany.

Following Oliver Riddle’s appeal to the authorities, a team of experts immediately began excavating, during which 934 Roman silver denarii were discovered. This is the largest treasure with coins ever found in Germany since the Roman Emperor Hadrian, said on Tuesday, September 22, the local administration responsible for archaeological sites.

“It was clear to me that there was something more buried here,” Ridl said.

The coin hoard, which weighs 3.1 kilograms, was put on public display at the Bonn Museum on Tuesday.

“The coins were probably deliberately buried in the second quarter of the second century AD,” the Rhineland Archaeological Conservation Authority said.

State archaeologist and director of the agency, Erich Klassen, said it was not known why the hoard had not been found before, adding that “it is possible that the owner died before it could have happened without having time to transfer knowledge about the coins.”.