TORZHOK, RUSSIA—Live Science reports that a cache of 409 gold ruble coins stored in an earthenware mug was discovered by researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences in the foundation of a house in northwestern Russia. The coins were minted between 1848 and 1911, before the end of the Russian Empire and the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Most of the coins were minted during the reign of the last tsar, Nicholas II, and were worth 10 rubles each. Ten of the coins were worth five rubles, another 10 were worth 15 rubles each, and just two of the coins were worth 7.5 rubles, for a total value of 4,085 rubles in the cache. The researchers suggest that the coin hoard was hidden at the start of the Russian Revolution by someone who intended to return for it. It is not clear who owned the house at the time because the historic house numbers are different from the current ones. The coins have been taken to the All-Russian Historical and Ethnographic Museum. To read about a genetic study of ancient people from what are now southern Russia and eastern Ukraine, go to "The First Indo-European Speakers," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2025.
