(ORDO NEWS) — An amateur treasure hunter has discovered a Roman gold artifact.
53-year-old builder Nick Bateman became fascinated with the search for ancient objects during the COVID-19 epidemic.
His hobby was moderately successful, but for a long time he unsuccessfully tried to find a treasure in the Burston area in Norfolk County.
Due to a long series of failures, he managed to call one of the fields “disappointment”, since the metal detector indicated only the location of the next garbage.
However, a year ago he finally got lucky. “I did everything I needed to do before Christmas, so I figured I’d go out for an hour or two [to look for treasure],” he said.
“It wasn’t the most promising signal in the world, and when I dug three or four inches, I initially mistook the find for a golden metal bottle cap.
But when I cleared the dirt, I realized that I had found gold and fell to my knees in disbelief.
The earring was originally dated to the Middle Ages due to the presence of a tiny cross on one of the loops.
However, upon closer examination, 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 to the ear, and the missing part clung to the second.
“Every time I look at it, I wonder what the life of a Roman mistress was like, what she looked like and how she lost her earring on a Norfolk field,” says Bateman.
The find will be exhibited at the Diss Museum.
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