A hoard of nationally important Roman ritual bronzes that includes a bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius have sold at auction to an unknown buyer for £185,000 ($260,000) thanks to the still-open loophole in the 1996 Treasure Act.

The assemblage was discovered last May by metal detectorists James Spark and Mark Didlick in a field near the village of Ampleforth in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire. They first unearthed a figurine of a horse and rider. A foot away they dug up the bust and a conical plumb bob. They found the a key handle in the shape of the forequarters of a horse the next day. The hoard was then taken to York Museum and examined by archaeologists.

The bust is finely modelled, with detailed facial features and curled hair. There are rivet holes on the front of the chest plate indicating that it was originally mounted onto something, probably a priestly scepter. The features identify the bust as a portrait of Marcus Aurelius, which means the deposit dates to the 2nd century at the earliest.

Two comparable deposits found in the 19th century also included a scepter head bust of an emperor, horse and rider figurines and mounts and fittings. The plumb bob has no parallel in votive deposits. Archaeologists believe the inclusion of the key component of a surveyor’s tool may be an indication that the offering was related to construction, perhaps asking the sanction of the gods for the creation of a new town boundary (pomerium).

Despite the great archaeological significance of the assemblage, it does not qualify as treasure because it’s not two or more coins 300 years old or older, not made of precious metal and not prehistoric. This loophole springs from a ludicrously outdated definition of treasure established in medieval common law. The UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport finally addressed the problem and a revision of the act that would plug the loophole was written in 2019. Unfortunately the complexities of the legislative process — public consultation period, further research, the publication of said research, the official drafting of the legislation and its passage by Parliament — mean it won’t actually be law until 2022 at the earliest.

So now the Ryedale Ritual Bronzes join the Crosby Garret helmet, the Roman licking dog, the Allectus aureus and who knows how many other treasures of cultural patrimony that haven’t made the press. Let’s hope the buyer turns out to be a museum, or at least a generous donor.

More than 50 pieces of bronze jewelry from the late Bronze Age have been discovered in Alingsås, southwestern Sweden. Dating to between 750 and 500 B.C., it is one of the largest Late Bronze Age ceremonial depositions ever found in Sweden, and one of the most spectacular in terms of quality and condition of the objects. It’s also the first time since the Fröslunda shields were unearthed in the 1980s that a Swedish Bronze Age votive find has been excavated by archaeologists.

The first objects were found by chance by Tomas Karlsson who was documenting the wooded terrain for an orienteering map. He spotted 10 pieces scattered on open ground in front of some boulders. At first he thought they were trash, random metal bits from a broken lamp, perhaps. When he leaned closer, he saw an intricate spiral and a necklace.

The find was reported and county officials commissioned an archaeological investigation to recover any other artifacts that might be at the site and to learn everything they could about their context. Last week, archaeologists and conservators from the regional cultural development administration teamed up with researchers from the University of Gothenburg to survey the find site. They found about 50 objects either intact or in large part extant, plus about 20 bronze fragments of indeterminate origin and 10 iron fragments.

About 20% of the objects were found inside a pot placed under a boulder. The other 80% were found outside the pot but in proximity to it. Archaeologists suspect the objects had been dislodged from under the pot by wild animals using the spaces between and beneath the boulders to burrow and/or nest.

They artifacts in such pristine condition that at first glance they were suspected of being modern copies, but closer inspection revealed that they were authentic Bronze Age pieces.

“Most of the finds consist of bronze objects that can be associated with a high-status woman from the Bronze Age. They have been used to decorate various body parts, such as necklaces, bracelets and foot rings, but also large needles and hoops that have been used to decorate and hold up various forms of clothing that were probably made of wool,” says Johan Ling professor of archeology at the University of Gothenburg .

In addition to necklaces, clothes pins, spirals, chains and a tutulus (clothing or belt ornament), a hollow ax and residual products from bronze casting were found. A rod that is believed to have been used to stimulate and spur horses was also found. It is a type of object that has been found in Denmark but not so far in Sweden.

The location alone is highly unusual for a Bronze Age deposition site. Bronze and Iron Age peoples sacrificed high-value metalwork for religious reasons. Usually these sacrifices were made in and around lakes and rivers, so the ritual offerings have been unearthed in the peat bogs and agricultural land the ancient bodies of water turned into over the centuries. This site is woodland, not wetland, and it was forested when the objects were deposited.

The objects are now being conserved and studied, with the immediate emphasis on ensuring their stability now that they’ve been removed from the protective cocoon and exposed to air. Eventually they will likely be put on public display in a museum close to the find site.

A hoard of more than 600 silver coins from the Late Roman Republic era has been unearthed in the ancient city of Aizanoi, western Turkey. The coins, Roman 439 denarii and 212 cistophori from Pergamum, were discovered in September 2019 on the banks of a river. They were found packed inside a jug which was then surrounded by three terracotta plates to hide it.

Archaeologists removed the vessel so it could be excavated in laboratory conditions. All of the coins were found to date to the last century of the Roman Republic, the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. Many coins bear the portraits of Julius Caesar, his assassin Brutus, Mark Antony and Augustus. There are also coins minted by Augustus’ right hand man and future son-in-law, Agrippa when he was governor of Gaul (38 B.C.). A collection of portait-heavy coins like this is known as a coin album, like the numismatic version of a photo album. Excavation leader Professor Eliz Özer speculates that the coins might have been stashed by a Roman military officer.

“One or two of these coins found in the collection are of higher value. It has been observed that most of the coins were minted in Southern Italy mints. These are the most special silver coins that have been found in recent times,” Özer said.

Originally settled around 3,000 B.C., Aizanoi was part of the Attalid Kingdom of Pergamum which was bequeathed to the Roman Republic by its last king, Attalus III, in 133 B.C. It reached its apex of prosperity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. when the city’s great monumental structures — public baths, a macellum (market) inscribed with the Price Edict of Diocletian, a combined theater and stadium seating 33,500 that is unique in the Roman world — date to this period. Aizanoi’s Temple of Zeus, begun under Domitian in the late 1st century, is the best-preserved temple in Anatolia today.

A birdwatcher in eastern England has discovered the largest hoard of Celtic gold coins ever found in Britain. The birder has been observing a glorious instance of aerial combat between a large brown buzzard and two magpies through his binoculars. When they moved out view, he glanced down and saw something in the groove of recently-ploughed soil. He picked up the circular piece, figuring it was an old metal washer, but when he wiped off the mud, he saw the glint of gold. What glittered in this case was in fact gold, a Celtic full stater from the middle of the 1st century.

After he spotted a second one a couple of feet away, the birdwatcher switched to another of his avid hobbies, running home to fetch his metal detector. He scanned the area where he had found the two coins and quickly found another two gold coins. Then he got a particularly a strong signal and began to dig down. Just 18 inches under the surface, he unearthed another circular object. It looked like a copper bracelet, but when he pulled it up a shower of gold fell on him like he was Danae. The circle was actually the rim of Roman vase or jug that had been filled with coins and buried.

Alas, the finder did not stop what he was doing to alert archaeologists. He filled two large shopping bags with what are estimated to be around 1,300 gold coins and walked home with them. He then called in the find to the coroner’s office. The coins are now being assessed before the inquest that will declare them treasure under the terms of the 1996 Treasure Act. As far as monetary value goes, each coin could be worth up to $880 dollars, depending on condition.

This is a new record for a Celtic gold coin hoard. The previous record-holder was a hoard of 850 coins discovered at Wickham Market, Suffolk, in 2008.