Tens of thousands of ancient coins found off Sardinia, possibly from a shipwreck
ROME — A diver’s sighting of something metallic not far from Sardinia’s coast has led to the discovery of tens of thousands of ancient bronze coins.
Italy’s Culture Ministry said Saturday that the diver alerted authorities, who sent divers assigned to an art protection squad along with others from the ministry’s undersea archaeology department.
The coins, dating from the first half of the 4th century, were found in sea grass, not far from the northeast shore of Sardinia, Italy, in the Mediterranean. The ministry didn’t say exactly when the first diver caught a glimpse of something metallic in the water not far from the town of Arzachena.
Exactly how many coins have been retrieved hasn’t been determined yet, as they are being sorted. A ministry statement estimated there are between 30,000 and 50,000, given their weight.
“All the coins were in an excellent and rare state of preservation,” the ministry said. The few coins that were damaged still had legible inscriptions, it said.
“The treasure found in the waters off Arzachena represent one of the most important coin discoveries” in recent years, said Luigi La Rocca, a Sardinian archaeology department official.
A Norwegian man using a metal detector found centuries-old pendants, rings and gold pearls on a southern Norwegian island.
He added in a statement that the find is “further evidence of the richness and importance of the archaeological heritage that the seabed of our seas, crossed by men and goods from the most ancient of epochs, still keep and preserve.”
Divers from firefighting and border control agencies were also involved in locating and retrieving the coins.
The coins were found mainly in a wide area of sand between the underwater seagrass and the beach, the ministry said. Given the location and shape of the seabed, there could be remains of a shipwreck nearby, the ministry said.
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