KSIĘŻOPOL, POLAND—Metal detectorists discovered a cache of ancient coins in a field in eastern Poland, according to a CBS News report. Three of the coins are Roman dinars minted between A.D. 138 and 161. These coins bear an image of the face of the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned A.D. 138 and 161). Another silver dinar is imprinted with the face of his wife, Faustina the Elder, dated to A.D. 141. The face of the emperor Marcus Aurelius has been identified on another dinar dated to A.D. 174. A piece of one coin, which also bears the face of Antoninus Pius and has been dated to between A.D. 146 and 152, had been cut away, perhaps during a trade transaction. A rare Roman dinar, twice the usual size, bears the face of the empress Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla, minted between A.D. 249 and 251. A quarter of this coin had also been cut off. Some of the coins in the cache have been identified as counterfeits of Roman coins made by Germanic Visigoths. Several tools, metal artifacts, and pieces of pottery were also recovered. Researchers from the Lublin Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments are planning a further investigation of the area. To read about the expansion of the Roman Empire during Antoninus Pius' reign, go to "The Wall at the End of the Empire: The Other Wall."
