A pair of freedivers recently unearthed more than 50 ancient gold coins from the Roman Empire while diving off Portitxol on Spain’s eastern coast.
The coins found had the heads of five Roman emperors on them: Valentinian I, Valentinian II, Theodosius I, Arcadius and Honorius.
Jaime Molina, a history professor at the University of Alicante, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais that sets of gold coins like the one found “are not common,” and there weren’t any signs of sunken ships in the area:
“So it was probably a voluntary act of concealment from advancing Barbarians, in this case, the Alans. The find speaks to us of a context of fear, of a world that is ending — that of the Roman Empire.”
Once they’re restored, the coins will be put on display at the Solar Blasco Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Xabia, Spain.
