Archaeologists discover ancient hoard containing hundreds of gold and silver coins

In a quiet corner of western Czech Republic, archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of tiny gold and silver coins hidden in a farm field.

The finds, buried near the Pilsen region over 2,000 years ago, point to a possible lost Celtic market where people gathered to trade.

Unearthing a secret Celtic site

Archaeologists have been working at the site for about five years, carefully recording each metal find from within the plowed soil. They have recovered coins, fragments of gold and silver bars, and personal objects such as buckles, pins, bracelets, pendants, and a tiny horse figurine.

The work is led by archaeologist Pavel Kodera, head of the Museum and Gallery of the Northern Pilsen Region in Mariánská Týnice. His research follows how Celtic communities in Bohemia used metal objects and coins in daily life and ritual.

Officials are keeping the exact location secret, describing it only as rural land in the north of the Pilsen region. That secrecy protects the fragile layers from illegal metal detecting and plowing that can scatter or destroy the context of each artifact.

The dig takes place in short windows between harvest and fresh planting on the working farm. That tight schedule turns every season into a race to rescue objects before new machinery cuts deeper into the ancient ground.

Clues buried in coins and metal fragments

The gold and silver coins vary in size, and many are extremely small compared with later ancient money. Some carry stylized animals, while others show abstract patterns that hint at local tastes in art and belief.

“Many of the newfound gold and silver coins are from previously unknown mints,” said Daniel Stráník, a museum archaeologist in northern Pilsen. Those new coin types suggest that more communities in western Bohemia minted their own money than experts had assumed.

“These could have played an independent role in the exchange,” said David Daněček, an archaeologist with the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). Archaeologists also recovered fragments of gold and silver ingots, solid metal bars that probably remained under the close control of regional rulers. 

Celtic coins in general often began as imitations of Greek gold staters, then evolved into distinct local designs. That mix of borrowed imagery and inventive patterns turns each tiny piece into a clue about the traders and the styles they valued.

A seasonal market without a town

Despite all the finds, archaeologists have not identified houses, storage pits, or other clear traces of a permanent settlement. Instead, the metal finds lie scattered across the field in loose clusters rather than around building foundations.

“It could be a place with a distinctly seasonal character of activities,” said Daněček. He suggested that people probably lost many of the tiny coins while trading, visiting, or moving through the gathering place.

If the interpretation is right, the site acted as a meeting ground where farmers, craftspeople, and travelers came together for bursts of intense activity. At those moments, goods, gossip, and new ideas would have moved as readily as the coins themselves.

Celtic networks across Europe

Celtic culture spread from central Europe into regions from the Iberian Peninsula to Anatolia, as noted in a university overview. That background helps explain why a field in today’s Czech Republic can hold evidence of people linked into far reaching trade and family networks.

Historians connect that movement with the Hallstatt culture, an early Iron Age tradition centered on wealthy salt and metal towns. During that phase, elites built their power on control of mining, long distance routes, and impressive burial mounds.

The La Tène culture took shape around the mid fifth century B.C. in Iron Age Europe. Archaeologists recognize its spread from France to central Europe through art and coin finds.

Across Celtic regions, coins served as money and as offerings at sacred places. Coins were not only used for exchange in the Iron Age, archaeologists find stashes in rivers, shrines, and fields.

Protecting the past in a plowed landscape

“The main goal of the project was primarily to save movable archaeological finds,” said Jan Mařík, an archaeologist in the Czech Republic. He warned that illegal metal detecting, deep plowing, and erosion can quickly remove the last traces of a site like this.

Mass discoveries of coins, known as hoards, large groups of valuables buried together, often appear at moments of stress or political change. One detailed thesis shows how such deposits marked shifting power and trade ties across Iron Age and early Roman Britain.

Modern heritage laws in countries such as Czech Republic try to balance the interests of landowners, detector hobbyists, museums, and researchers. 

When finds are reported promptly, experts can document objects, study them, and share them with the public instead of losing pieces to private sales.

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