A significant discovery of ancient silver coins has been made on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria, located between Sicily and Tunisia. Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen, Germany, have unearthed 27 Roman silver coins, known as “denarii,” that are more than 2,000 years old. The coins were found hidden in a hole in a wall during excavations at the Acropolis of Santa Teresa and San Marco. Some of the coins depict the profile of a human head, which has not yet been identified.
The Pirate Attack Theory
The coins are believed to have been hidden during one of the many pirate raids that plagued the region around 94–74 BC, during the reign of the Roman Republic. opening was made after the ground from the site slid down due to rainy weather, revealing part of the cache. The remaining coins were found under a boulder. According to archaeologist Thomas Schaefer, the coins may have been hidden by locals during a pirate attack.
Pirates frequently raided the coastal areas of the Eastern Mediterranean until the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known as Pompey the Great, defeated them in 67 BC.
Roman ruins and previous discoveries
The discovery of these coins took place not far from an earlier one. find – the heads of three Roman statues. Among these marble heads were images of Julius Caesar, the Emperor Titus (reigned from 79 to 81 CE), and a woman who may have been Agrippina the Elder, granddaughter of Augustus, or Antonia the Younger, daughter of Mark Antony.
The archaeological site, once a Roman settlement known as Cossira or Cossura, remains untouched by looters and is a gathering place known as a “comitium”. Only five such sites have ever been found in Italy, making this a significant and well-preserved find.