Treasure Hunter Finds 2nd Century Roman Coin | Culture | News | ERR

A second century Roman coin and bronze jewelry from the 11th or 12th century was uncovered from a field in Harju County by a local treasure hunting hobbyist.

"The discovery is priceless, definitely very intriguing," Ants Kraut, the head archeologist at the National Heritage Board, told Meie Maa. "We have given the discovered items to experts for an analysis, and they will evaluate how much the treasure is worth, and whether a finder's fee should be paid and how much."

The lucky treasure hunter is Roland Koit, who has been scanning fields with his metal detector for five years and has now made his first big discovery from under a thin layer of dirt. "It was surprising that the jewelry was quite near the surface of the field, in the topsoil, and it is a miracle that a tractor hasn't thrown it around before," said Koit. "The jewelry was nicely packed into birch bark."

Two New Archaeological Sites Discovered in Jubail, Saudi Arabia | Travel Video News

Two New Archaeological Sites Discovered in Jubail, Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) recently discovered two archeological sites in Al Jubail Industrial city in the eastern province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), one dating back to the 3rd century BC, and the other dating back to 1st century BC, corresponding to 5th century AH.

Dr. Ali Al Ghabban, Vice President of SCTA for Antiquities and Museums Affairs, explained that the commission intends to transform the two locations into open museums for the public. His assertions came during a field trip to the sites organized by the SCTA branch of the eastern province in collaboration with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY).

Dr. Ghabban stated: “The first site is near Al Dafi within the Jubail Industrial College near the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu building about 14 kilometers from the city of Jubail. The site area, which is about 60 thousand square off the sea coast, is surrounded by a wall on an archaeological hill that rises to 5 to 6 meters above sea level.

“This site is believed to be the location of [the] ancient Thaj seaport in Al Jahra kingdom, which had taken control of [the] east of the Arabian Peninsula before Islam. Third century BC could be the possible date of the site, however, accurate dating could be given only after finalizing the layer tests.”

Excavations on the site made by Saudi archeologists resulted in the discovery of interconnected residential buildings featured with unique architectural style and high technology in the pruning of masonry and the use of mortar with severe stiffness; using lime has also been detected.

Also a broad road in the middle of a building extending east to west was unearthed by the team. The majority of the buildings have circular basins in the center, about 1.5 meters in diameter, built with stones, with trimmed mud floors, perhaps used for storing foodstuffs. The site is surrounded by a wall built with large stones, a part of which is revealed in the northern part of the site, while a number of archeological finds were picked up during the excavation works, such as pottery and incense burners, clay figures, and bones of fish and marine organisms that have been collected for the study.