In northwestern Spain, a badger burrowing in a cave helped unearth a collection of Roman coins that were buried underground for centuries.
The animal was likely seeking food or shelter during an intense snowstorm that hit Spain in January 2021.
The storm was the biggest one in 50 years and left many creatures struggling to find berries, worms, and insects to eat.
A local resident named Roberto García discovered the coins and notified archaeologists. Overall, the badger had dug up more than 90 coins.
When the research team continued what the badger started, they were able to excavate a total of 209 coins.
The coins were located in La Cuesta cave in the municipality of Grado. They were from the late Roman era and dated back between 200 and 400 C.E. They appear to have been forged in places as far as Constantinople, Greece, and London.
Other ancient Roman coins have been found in the area before—for example, a stash of 14 gold coins discovered in the 1930s—but the latest find was the largest hoard of coins ever uncovered in northern Spain.
Further analysis revealed that the majority of the coins were made of bronze and copper. The largest coin, a well-preserved one that was minted in London, weighed more than eight grams and contained four percent silver.
Today, Spain is located in the Iberian Peninsula. Roman forces arrived there in 219 B.C.E. and pushed out the Carthaginians. It took nearly 200 years for Rome to fully take over the peninsula.
ondrejprosicky – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual badger
Rome ruled the region until the early fifth century when groups such as the Sueves, Vandals, and Visigoths began chipping away at the empire’s power.
During conflicts involving these groups, many refugees hiding in the area may have concealed their coins in the cave.
The most recent coin dates back to A.D. 430, which was after the Sueves invaded and forced the Romans out of Spain in A.D. 409.
“We think it’s a reflection of the social and political instability which came along with the fall of Rome and the arrival of groups of barbarians to northern Spain,” said Alfonso Fanjul Peraza, the director of the dig from the Autonomous University of Madrid.
After the coins were cleaned, they were displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Asturias. The team also suspected that the coins were part of a larger collection.
More artifacts could be found there. So, they planned to return to the cave for further excavations.
In addition, they wanted to investigate whether the cave was just a hiding place or if people were living in the area.
The site is ideal for helping researchers understand more about the Roman Empire’s downfall, the creation of medieval kingdoms in Spain, and how the lives of people in the region were affected by this transition.
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