An enthusiast has made a truly amazing discovery in the county of Hampshire.
An amateur metal detectorist has discovered a gold coin dating from before the Roman conquest of England. The announcement of the discovery was published yesterday. The find was discovered in a meadow in Selborne in the county of Hampshire. “It is a complete Iron Age gold quarter stater, possibly of the type “Mossop Cruciform”explained the archaeologists of the portable Antiquites scheme – The coin dates back to and was minted between 65 and 40 BC, weighs 0.9 grams and has a diameter of 0.95 millimetres”.
“The obverse of the coin has a cross with curved arms and the sun reproduced as the head of a dandelion. The cruciform shape is surrounded by two crescents each forming a lyre shape to the left and right of the central motif. Above and below the sun are two petaled flowers or suns. The reverse has a ringed horse to the right, a wheel at the bottom and a floral sun at the top”. The conquest of Britannia by the Romans it was undertaken precisely in the years in which this gold coin was minted. The invasion began in 43 BC, under the emperor Claudio, which had the objective of making Britain a Roman province. Rome’s army was forced to face strong resistance.