Category Archives: WORLD

Hundreds Of Pure Gold Roman Coins Found in Italy

Hundreds Of Pure Gold Roman Coins Found in Italy

About 300 gold coins, dating back around 1,500 years to a time when part of the Roman Empire was collapsing, have been discovered during construction at an abandoned cinema in Como, in northern Italy, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities said in a series of statements.

All of the coins were found inside the remains of an amphora, a type of storage jar that the Romans often used to transport liquids such as wine and olive oil.

The coins were found hidden inside an amphora, which is a jar used by the Romans for storing liquids such as wine and olive oil.

After the cinema construction crew discovered the hoard, a team of archaeologists from the ministry excavated the coins and brought them to a lab in Milan, where they are in the process of being examined and conserved said the ministry in one of the Italian language statements.  

Coin hoards have been found at many sites throughout the ancient Mediterranean, including a 1,500-year-old hoard found at the Greek city of Corinth.

However, hoards containing an abundance of gold coins are rare, and the ministry called the new find an “extraordinary discovery” in one of the statements.

The discovery leaves archaeologists with several mysteries. For example, when, exactly, was the hoard deposited, and who deposited it? Why was it abandoned, and why did no one come back for it?

A construction crew found the amphora holding the gold coins while working in an abandoned cinema in Italy.

An empire’s collapse

Historical records indicate that part of the Roman Empire was collapsing around 1,500 years ago, with many wars being fought in Italy.

The Roman Empire had been divided in two by the fifth century A.D. The Eastern Roman Empire, which was based in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), was thriving, while the Western Roman Empire (which included Italy) was collapsing.

The 300 gold coins or so date back 1,500 years to a time when part of the Roman Empire was collapsing

Rome was sacked in A.D. 410 by a group called the Goths, and in A.D. 455 by a group called the Vandals. In A.D. 476, the Western Roman Empire officially came to an end when the last emperor, a man named Romulus Augustulus, abdicated.

The Eastern Roman Empire (sometimes called the Byzantine Empire by modern-day historians) regained much of Italy during a series of military campaigns during the rule of Justinian I (who reigned from A.D. 527 to 565).

But his successors couldn’t hold on to it, and a group called the Lombards gradually took over Italy in the time after Justinian’s death, in 565. Additionally, the ancient world was ravaged by the plague, which started in A.D. 541 and killed millions of people.

Whether the deposit of the hoard has anything to do with the chaos that was engulfing the Roman Empire around 1,500 years ago is unclear, but current research may eventually provide answers.

12,000-year-old massive underground tunnels are real and stretch from Scotland to Turkey

12,000-year-old massive underground tunnels are real and stretch from Scotland to Turkey

Is it possible that ancient cultures were interconnected thousands of years ago? According to thousands of underground tunnels that stretch from North Scotland towards the Mediterranean the answer is a big yes.

While the reason behind these sophisticated tunnels remains a mystery, many experts believe that this huge 12,000-year-old network was built as a protection against predators and other dangers 12,000 years ago.

Some experts believe that these mysterious tunnels were used as modern-day highways, allowing the transition of people and connecting them to distant places across Europe.

In the book Secrets Of The Underground Door To An Ancient World (German title: Tore zur Unterwelt) German archaeologist Dr Heinrich Kush states that evidence of huge underground tunnels has been found under dozens of Neolithic settlements all over the European continent. These tremendous tunnels are often referred to as ancient highways.

According to Dr Kusch, the fact that many of these tunnels still exist today, after 12,000 years indicates that the tunnels must have been both complex and huge in size.

“Across Europe, there were thousands of them says Dr Kusch,” in Germany, we have discovered hundreds of meters of underground tunnels. In Austria, we have found hundreds more. These underground tunnels can be found everywhere across Europe and there are thousands of them.” Said the German archaeologist.


While some of the tunnels are relatively small- some of them measure over a meter in width, there are other tunnels that have been found with underground chambers and storage areas.

The fact that these tunnels have been found points towards incredible ancient ingenuity which is anything but what history books tells us today. Ancient mankind had the knowledge and tools to build complex structures over ten thousand years ago.

Evidence of that is the Pyramids of Bosnia in Europe and their incredible underground tunnels that go on for kilometres.

Dr Kusch states that ‘Across Europe, there were thousands of these tunnels – from the north in Scotland down to the Mediterranean.


They are interspersed with nooks, at some places it’s larger and there is seating, or storage chambers and rooms. They do not all link up but taken together it is a massive underground network.’

Cappadocia in Turkey is another incredible example. The underground city of Derinkuyu is another piece of evidence that points towards the perfection and long-lost construction methods of our ancestors.

The underground city of Derinkuyu is perhaps one of the greatest achievements in underground construction together with the huge network of tunnels.

The geological features of the stone from Derinkuyu is something that is very important; it is very soft. Thus, the ancient builders of Derinkuyu had to be very careful when building these underground chambers providing enough pillar strength to support the floors above; if this was not achieved, the city would have collapsed, but so far, archaeologists have not found evidence of any “cave-ins” at Derinkuyu.

Other ancient monuments such as Gobekli Tepe are more pieces of crucial evidence that point towards incredible skills and knowledge by people who inhabited our planet over ten thousand years ago.


According to Dr Kusch, chapels were often built at the entrances to the underground tunnels because the Church were afraid of the heathen legacy the tunnels might have represented, and like many other things, the church wanted to make sure word about the tunnels was kept as a secret.

In some of the tunnels, writings have been discovered which refer to these underground tunnels as gateways to the underworld.

Hoard of Roman Silver Coins found buried in Welsh field

Hoard of Roman Silver Coins found buried in Welsh field

Two treasure finds including a coin hoard of Roman date and a medieval silver brooch were declared treasure on 28 June 2022 by the Assistant Coroner for North Wales (East & Central) Katie Sutherland.

A Roman silver coin hoard was discovered by Wayne Jones while metal detecting on a pasture field in Halkyn Community in June 2020.

The coin hoard contains 13 silver denarii minted between AD 64 and AD 117. The first coin in the hoard is a denarius of the Emperor Nero (AD 54-68) and the last is a denarius of the Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117).

The Roman silver coin hoard was discovered by Wayne Jones
The Roman silver coin hoard was discovered by Wayne Jones

The hoard was probably buried a short time later, at around AD 117-125. Halkyn Mountain was an important Roman lead mining site.

A Roman lead pig (ingot), discovered in 2019 in Rossett, Wrexham, has been chemically linked to lead from Halkyn Mountain, and other evidence of early-Roman lead mining and smelting has been discovered in North-East Wales and at nearby Chester.

The burying of this hoard might therefore be linked to mining activities in the area.

Alastair Willis, Senior Curator of Numismatics and the Welsh Economy, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales said:

“This coin hoard adds to a growing body of evidence for Roman activity in and around Halkyn during the first and second centuries AD, which is likely to have been primarily related to lead mining on Halkyn Mountain.”

Flintshire Museums Service would like to acquire the coin hoard for their collection, following its independent valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

Sophie Fish, Museums, Culture and Heritage Manager for Flintshire said:

“This is an extremely exciting find from our Roman past. It is interesting to imagine who the coins belonged to and what goods were purchased with the currency.”

“We hope to be able to display them in Mold Museum as part of a new display on Roman activity across Flintshire.”

The small silver annular ‘stirrup’ brooch of medieval date was discovered by Scott Bevan in 2019

A small silver annular ‘stirrup’ brooch of medieval date was discovered by Scott Bevan on October 2019, whilst metal detecting on an arable field in Erbistock Community, Wrexham.

The brooch frame is decorated with fine transverse bands inlaid with black niello, a metal alloy with sulphur.

The dagger-like pin has incised decoration as well as two ‘stirrups’, curved protrusions extending at the pin-head end, which were to prevent snagging. This brooch dates from the thirteenth- or early fourteenth century.

Sian Iles, Curator of Medieval and Later Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales says:

“Medieval silver annular brooches like the Erbistock example are increasingly recorded in Wales, thanks to reporting through the Treasure Act 1996 and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.”

“This continual enrichment of evidence enables us to build a strong picture of the ways personal identities were being expressed Medieval Wales, through the wearing of jewellery and other personal adornments.”

Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives is interested in acquiring the brooch for their collection, following an independent valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

1,600-Year-Old Elongated Skull with Stone-Encrusted Teeth Found in Mexico Ruins

1,600-Year-Old Elongated Skull with Stone-Encrusted Teeth Found in Mexico Ruins

Archaeologists in Mexico have recently uncovered a 1,600-year-old skeleton of a woman who had mineral-encrusted teeth and an intentionally elongated skull – evidence that suggests she was part of her society’s upper-class.

While it isn’t uncommon for archaeologists to find deformed remains, the new skeleton is one of the most “extreme” ever recorded.

“Her cranium was elongated by being compressed in a ‘very extreme’ manner, a technique commonly used in the southern part of Mesoamerica, not the central region where she was found,” the team said, according to an AFP report.

The team, led by researchers from the National Anthropology and History Institute in Mexico, found the woman in the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan – a pre-Hispanic civilisation that once lied 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Mexico City, existing between the 1st and 8th century AD before it mysteriously vanished.

The woman, who the researchers have named The Woman of Tlailotlacan after the location she was found inside the ancient city, not only had an elongated skull, but she had her top two teeth encrusted with pyrite stones – a mineral that looks like gold at first glance.

Gold studded teeth, Pre-Columbian Ecuador.

She also had a fake lower tooth made from serpentine – a feature so distinctive, the team says it’s evidence to suggest that she was a foreigner to the ancient city.

The elongated skull with stone encrusted teeth found in Teotihuacan, Mexico.

The researchers doesn’t give any details into how these body modifications were performed 1,600-years-ago, or why they were common in the first place. But based on other cultures, such as the Mayans, artificial cranial deformation was likely done in infancy using bindings to grow the skull outwards, possibly to signal social status.

While very little is none about the woman’s faux-golden grill, researchers from Mexico did find 2,500-year-old Native American remains with gems embedded in their teeth back in 2009. In that study, the team said that sophisticated dental practices made the modifications possible, though they were likely used purely for decoration and weren’t symbols of class. 

“It’s possible some type of [herb based] anaesthetic was applied prior to drilling to blunt any pain,” team member José Concepción Jiménez, from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, told National Geographic.

It’s also important to note that the current team’s findings have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, so we will have to take their word on it for now until they can get their report ready for publication.

The Mexican team aren’t the only ones to discover some interesting human remains lately, either. Back in June, researchers from Australia uncovered 700,000-year-old ‘hobbit’ remains on an island in Indonesia.

More recently, just last week, researchers in China what might be a skull bone belonging to Buddha inside a 1,000-year-old shrine in Nanjing, China.

Needless to say, archaeologists all over the world have been quite busy this year, and we can’t wait to see what they uncover next.