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The coins are marked with the faces of nine Roman emperors. Archaeologists in Luxembourg have unearthed a stash of Roman gold coins dating back some 1,600 years. The coins are marked with faces of nine Roman emperors who reigned during the fourth and fifth centuries\u2014including\u00a0Eugenius<\/a>, an illegitimate usurper who ruled the Western Roman Empire for just two years.<\/p>\n According to a statement<\/a> from Luxembourg\u2019s National Institute for Archaeological Research (INRA), the coins were excavated at an archaeological site in the northern village of Holzthum.<\/p>\n The site first piqued archaeologists\u2019 interest in 2019, when amateur metal detectorists discovered coins in the area. Professionals carried out an official excavation between 2020 and 2024, according to news station\u00a0RTL L\u00ebtzebuerg<\/a>\u2019s Marc Hoscheid. Because the area was littered with munitions and explosives from World War II, researchers employed the country\u2019s Army Mine Action Service to safely excavate the area.<\/p>\n The emperors depicted on the coins ruled between\u00a0364 and 408 C.E.<\/p>\n National Institute for Archaeological Research<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The dig revealed a cache of 141 ancient Roman coins, which is valued at \u20ac308,600 (about $322,000). Researchers found remains of a structure on the site, which they think was once home to a\u00a0burgus<\/em><\/a>, a small Roman fortress or tower. Most of the coins are\u00a0solidi<\/em><\/a>, pieces of gold currency that were minted beginning in the fourth century C.E.<\/p>\n \u201cThis represents a huge amount of personal wealth for the individual or group who collected these coins,\u201d Rebecca Usherwood<\/a>, a historian at Trinity College Dublin, tells the Daily Express<\/em><\/a>\u2019 Joel Day. \u201cMost people in the Roman Empire would rarely, if ever, have seen a single gold coin. To find this many indicates the owner was of considerable social standing, likely a military officer rather than a common soldier.\u201d<\/p>\n The coins were made in an era known as the\u00a0Later Roman Empire<\/a>, which saw Rome transition<\/a> to Christianity after the emperor\u00a0Constantine I<\/a>\u2019s conversion in 313 C.E. The period was also characterized by diminishing Roman influence in European lands like present-day France, Germany and Luxembourg.<\/p>\n The cache was discovered in a region that was prosperous in the early fourth century, Usherwood adds. But by the early fifth century,\u00a0Germanic peoples<\/a> were increasingly invading from across the Rhine River, making the area \u201cuntenable\u201d for Romans. She suggests that the coin collection\u2019s owner may have buried their wealth because they were unable to flee with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps they were involved in a skirmish or cut off from the site,\u201d Usherwood tells the Daily Express<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s likely they died before they could recover their treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n Three coins in the hoard depict the Roman emperor Eugenius, a professor of rhetoric who reigned between 392 and 394 C.E. A military general proclaimed Eugenius emperor of the West after the emperor\u00a0Valentinian II<\/a> was mysteriously killed.\u00a0Theodosius I<\/a>, the Eastern emperor, rejected Eugenius\u2019 ascension and went to war against him, leading to Eugenius\u2019\u00a0death in battle<\/a> in 394. As Live Science<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Marjanko Pileki\u0107 writes, \u201cHis coins are especially rare because his time in power was so short.\u201d<\/p>\n With excavations complete, the researchers are now analyzing their findings in a laboratory, per INRA. Eventually, their results will be published in a scientific journal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will still take some time to process the excavations and finds,\u201d says Eric Thill, Luxembourg\u2019s culture minister, in a\u00a0statement<\/a>, per a translation by Live Science<\/em>. \u201cBut it will undoubtedly increase our knowledge and understanding of the last century of the Roman Empire in the West.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n National Institute for Archaeological Research<\/span>
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