An amazing discovery near Cologne. Over 900 coins in the ground

Oliver Riedl, equipped with a metal detector, was walking through a field near Wesseling. He quickly came across the first silver coin, and then others.

It was clear to me that there was something bigger in the ground, he later admitted in an interview with dpa. When the number of coins he had mined reached fifteen, the signals sent by the device still did not stop. Then he notified the office for the protection of monuments.

A team of archaeologists quickly arrived at the site and excavated as many as 934 Roman denarii. According to experts, it is the greatest treasure from the times of Emperor Hadrian discovered in Germany. They considered the find "sensational".

Analyzes have shown that most of the coins come from the 1st century AD, although the oldest one was minted in 148 BC, during the Roman Republic. This means that it was over 270 years old when buried, but was still legal tender.

The treasury, in accordance with the law, became the property of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The finder will receive a financial reward.

Why did someone decide to hide such a significant amount of money? Archaeologists do not have a clear answer. It's very possible that someone just wanted to keep the money safe; it is possible that the owner of the treasure died without providing anyone with information about its location.

Scientists estimate that the value of the treasure was enormous at that time. A Roman legionary earned about 300 denarii a year, half of which he spent on food and equipment. They calculate that a legionnaire would have to save all his money for about six years to accumulate the treasure from Wesseling. Today, the material value of the coins is approximately PLN 6,000. euro, but for scientists the find is priceless.

The found treasure most likely belonged to a resident of one of the Roman villas in this area. In the times of Emperor Hadrian, this area belonged to the city of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium - today's Cologne. The city, with a population of about 20,000 at that time, was famous for its rich villas, temples, baths and its own river fleet on the Rhine.