Archaeologists in Sweden have uncovered 45 Roman silver coins, two of which may be ancient counterfeits, along with a gold ring.
The find was made during excavations ahead of an expansion at the Gotland Regiment military base. Archaeologists were finishing work on the foundation of a farmhouse from the Migration Period, around the fifth and sixth centuries, when they made one last sweep with a metal detector.
A signal near one of the foundation stones led them to a small silver coin. As they continued digging, they found more. By the end of the day, the team had counted 45 coins and a gold finger ring.
The coins were minted in the second century and bear images of five Roman emperors—Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus—and four empresses: Vibia Sabina, Faustina I, Faustina II and Lucilla. Swedish Roman-coin specialist Lennart Lind identified them.
Researchers think the coins reached Gotland in the fourth century and circulated in trade for generations. They may have been buried with the ring around 450 A.D. Two coins appear to be counterfeits, possibly made in what is now Ukraine.
Archaeologists also found nine graves elsewhere on the military grounds, believed to be about 2,000 years old. One contained almost 10 pounds of burned human bones. The remains came from at least two people, including an adult man. Bronze fittings that may have belonged to a sword suspension and a shield were found nearby.
Per Widerström, an archaeologist at Gotland Museum, said the coins were not especially unexpected for the site, though the gold ring was unusual. Radiocarbon dating suggests people lived at the settlement from the fourth through sixth centuries.
The farm may have been abandoned around 540, Widerström said, perhaps during a period of upheaval associated with natural disasters beginning in 536. He also noted that archaeologists have identified six buildings, apparently spread across two neighboring farms. The settlement seems to have been left gradually, and some people may have returned to retrieve belongings.
The find adds to a string of recent discoveries in Sweden. Earlier this year, archaeologists reported two rare Bronze Age neck rings, thought to be more than 2,500 years old, inside an ancient grave monument. Last winter, officials announced the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved 5,000-year-old dog skeleton and a bone dagger near Stockholm.
