NIJMEGEN, THE NETHERLANDS—Dutch News reports that a hoard of gold coins was unearthed in an orchard in the central eastern Netherlands. Some of the coins bear the image of Majorian, one of the last rulers of the Roman Empire. Archaeologist Nico Roymans of Vrije University thinks the coins may have been buried in the second half of the fifth century A.D. by a Frankish military leader who had been paid by the Romans for help with local Germanic tribes. Maps of the area dating to the nineteenth century show a burial mound at the spot where the coins were found. “The burial mound would have been easy to find in the late Roman era and maybe that was the reason for hiding the treasure there,” Roymans said. The coins will go on display at Valkhof Museum. For more, go to “Hoards of the Vikings.”
