Hey Diggers,
Sunday I went out with Russ and Tom to detect a new stretch of woods. After about 2 hours we each had a couple buckles and other bits and bobs. We were working our way back to the cars and I found a Roman coin. It was rotted and had no details left on it. Then I dug another. Then another. Within 10 minutes I had 9 of them. I called the guys back from the cars and we started searching all over that section of the woods. Tom found 14 coins total, including a Roman silver and a beautiful Celtic coin. Russ found 24 coins including 2 Celtics! I found 41 Rotted Romans--no silver and no Celtics! Totally not fair! Anyway, the coins are so fragile that any attempts at manual cleaning makes them crumble in your hands. I soaked all 41 coins in ammonia for 2 days and then rinsed off the sludge and verdigris. Lo and behold, one of the coins (and only one) still had some detail on it! I have not yet gotten it identified but it has a Celtic style horse on the back. Tom's Roman silver was minted in 79 A.D. and the Celtics are all first century too. Our theory is this was a Roman prayer site, sometimes called a temple although it was probably just a statue they prayed to. Romans would make pilgrimages to these sites and leave a coin offering with their prayers.
We plan to go back of course!