Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Roman gold, jewelry found on British farm Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Roman gold, jewelry found on British farm \BY REUTERS \DT LONDON LONDON (Reuters) - A retired gardener looking for a lost hammer with a metal detector has found a multimillion-dollar trove of gold and silver dating from Roman times. Eric Lawes, 70, was sifting through the soil on a friend's farm in Suffolk, eastern England, when he first found a glinting gold coin, then another, then heavy gold chains, spoons, ornaments and jewelery studded with gems. The hoard, now thought to the most important Roman treasure discovered in Britain, was found Monday at a location that has not been disclosed. "Everyone who uses a metal detector hopes to find a treasure," Mr. Lawes said. "But this was beyond my wildest dreams." "When we were called, the treasure was laid out in the back of a car," said Suffolk County official Chris Storey. "There was so much of immense value it was staggering." The treasure seems to have been buried about 1,600 years ago by a local Roman dignitary in a wooden chest that subsequently rotted. The gold was preserved in the Suffolk mud. "It's a very rich group of objects," said archaeologist Judith Plouviez, an expert in Roman artifacts. "It illustrates what people at the very top of Roman society in the late fourth or early fifth century might have possessed." The find will now be the subject of a treasure trove inquest. When gold and silver troves are found and the owner cannot be traced, a coroner's inquest is held to decide whether it was deliberately hidden to be dug up later, rather than lost or intended as a religious offering. If it is declared a treasure trove that was concealed, it will become the property of Queen Elizabeth so Mr. Lawes and Peter Watling, on whose land the treasure was found, will not get any of the items but stand to pocket a substantial reward. Mr. Watling, a local farmer, said: "There was a lovely choker-type necklace that would have been nice for the wife." It was his plow, which normally churns up rusty horseshoes and useless old iron, that was instrumental in the discovery. "I plowed the field a bit deeper this year, and that's what must have uncovered it all," he said. "Even the remains of the chest had gold and jewelled hinges." The find was said to have been near the village of Hoxne, where Saint Edmund was slain by Anglo Saxons. There have been a number of previous finds in Suffolk. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM