Rains reveal ancient Roman artifacts likely buried during pirate attack, photos show
Recent rains on a small island off the southern coast of Italy revealed a collection of 2,000-year-old artifacts. Photos show the valuables, likely hidden during an ancient pirate attack.
Thomas Schäfer and other archaeologists have been excavating ancient Roman ruins on the island of Pantelleria for 25 years, he said in a Sept. 2 news release from the Office of Sicily’s President. Most recently, Schäfer and his team did some routine cleaning, restoring and other maintenance at the site.
After some rainfall, the archaeologists arrived at the site and noticed some small coins. Intrigued, they dug around and found several more coins under a nearby boulder, officials said.
In total, archaeologists found 27 ancient Roman coins. The silver artifacts were minted in Rome and dated back just over 2,000 years.
Officials shared photos of the treasure in a Sept. 2 Facebook post. One photo shows the brown, dirt-covered coins. Their designs are faintly visible.
Other photos show a shining silver disc after being cleaned. On one side, it has a person’s face, seen in profile and vaguely similar to a U.S. quarter. On the other side, the design shows a winged figure riding three horses. Its edges appear ridged.
Archaeologists suspect the coins were hidden during a pirate attack, a frequent occurrence for coastal Roman villages in the first century B.C., officials said. Someone likely buried the coins and never returned to collect them.
A similar cache of ancient Roman coins was found in the same place in 2010, officials said.
Excavations at the site, known as the Acropolis of Santa Teresa and San Marco, also uncovered a Roman forum, “the city walls, the public buildings and the cisterns for water supply,” according to an article from the government of Sicily.
Pantelleria island is off the southwestern coast of Italy and part of the Sicily region. The island is about 350 miles southwest of Rome and only 50 miles from the coast of Tunisia.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release and Facebook post from the Office of Sicily’s President.
This story was originally published September 3, 2024 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Rains reveal ancient Roman artifacts likely buried during pirate attack, photos show."
