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ROME, Nov 5Archaeologists have discovered a treasure with ancient Roman coins in the sea off the north-eastern coast of Italian Sardinia, which can be considered a record-breaking one, the Italian Ministry of Culture reported.
The seabed hid, according to initial estimates, from 30 to 50 thousand bronze coins of the early 4th century AD. This is significantly larger than the treasure from Great Britain, where almost 23 thousand of the same bronze coins of the Roman Empire called “follis” were discovered in 2013.
In addition to the money, at the site of the discovery, experts discovered the walls of amphoras of African and Eastern origin, but in a smaller volume.
The discovery was reported to archaeologists by a citizen who, during a dive, noticed metal objects at shallow depths near the shore.
«All coins are in an exceptional and rare state of preservation. Only four pieces are damaged, although legible,» the message says. The type of coinage allows them to be dated to the period between 324 and 340 AD. The follies discovered come from almost all the mints of the Empire operating during that period, with the exception of Antioch, Alexandria and Carthage.
«Operations for the restoration and preservation of found coins and materials will allow us to expand and deepen our knowledge about the context of the finds, from which a lot of information can still be obtained,» the Ministry of Culture reported.