An amateur treasure hunter discovered a Roman gold artifact. About informs “BBC”.
Builder Nick Bateman, 53, was fascinated by searching for ancient objects during the COVID-19 pandemic. His hobby was moderately successful, but for a long time he failed to find a treasure in the Burston area of Norfolk County. Due to a long series of failures, he managed to call one of the areas “disappointment”, as the metal detector only showed the location of the next garbage.
However, a year ago he finally got lucky. “I did everything I needed before Christmas, so I decided to go out for an hour or two. [поискать клад], – said. “It wasn’t the most promising signal in the world, and when I dug three or four inches, I initially thought the find was a gold metal bottle cap. But when I cleared the mud, I realized I had found the gold, and I fell to my knees in disbelief.
The earring was originally dated to the Middle Ages due to the presence of a small cross in one of the loops. However, upon closer inspection, a professional numismatist took a closer look and saw a laurel wreath and an eagle – characteristic features of Roman objects. The pattern was cast on two gold discs soldered together. It was supposed to have two loops: one for hanging on the ear, and the missing part stuck to the second.
“Every time I look at her, I wonder what the life of a Roman mistress was, what she looked like, and how she lost her earring on the Norfolk field,” Bateman says.
The find will be on display at the Diss Museum.