A treasure trove of Roman gold coins pops up in Norwich

Who said that in the world there is now nothing more to discover?

In fact, thanks to the increasingly sophisticated models of metal detectors, authentic treasures continue to emerge from the subsoil.

Like that of Norwich, a city on the River Wensum about 100 miles from London, where some archaeologists have made a truly amazing discovery: a precious treasure with Roman gold coins that date back to the decades before the invasion of Britain.

The discovery has not only returned to the community a precious heritage, but has also rewritten the ancient history of the English county that - between the first century BC and the first century AD - was inhabited by a Celtic tribe called Icens who, at that time, starting from 10 BC, minted a very large amount of gold coins.

The coins, in particular, should be from the area of Lugdunum, present-day Lyon, France, and date back to the generation prior to the Roman invasion of 43 AD.

They are little consumed and have a small woodcock mark next to the head of Emperor Augustus, which the numismatist Adrian Marsden (who previewed the photos of the treasure) believes was made by the Icens artisans to verify its quality:

"It is gold of high purity, while the gold coins of the Iron Age that circulated at the time were rather debased: they knew how to recognize the good Roman gold when they saw it ..."

The Norwich coins, in fact, were minted with gold of high purity and it is not to be excluded that, around the English dispute, there are other treasures of similar value.

Marsden himself told the BBC that the find is truly exceptional and that other coins could come to light......

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