2,200-Year-Old Hoard Discovery

Archaeologists surveying an area designated for a new highway in the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic recently uncovered a multitude of artifacts from a 2,200-year-old Celtic settlement. Among the discoveries were hundreds of gold and silver coins. 

“We were very happy, especially when we started finding valuable coins. We couldn’t believe it,”  says Dr. Matouš Holas of the University of Hradec Králové and the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in the Czech Republic.

A Rare Find

These are typical so-called Boian coins minted from the 3rd to mid-1st century B.C. in Bohemia, Moravia, and adjacent areas. More than 1,000 pieces of jewelry, remnants of dwellings, and a religious sanctuary were also uncovered. “The settlement represents [an] important central site with economical (pottery production, amber processing, and minting of coins), social (some evidence of ritual activities is there), and maybe political (e.g., minting as indication of political power) roles,” says University of Hradec Králové Department of Archaeology faculty member Tomas Mangel, Ph.D.

Dr. Mangel said there have been indications of similar settlements elsewhere in places such as Lower Austria, Moravia, and Silesia. However, he said there was little such direct evidence of ancient central settlements in Bohemia until this site was uncovered. Therefore, the artifacts Dr. Mangel and his team recently discovered represent a significant step toward helping researchers better understand ancient life in Bohemia. It was the first time he and his team had the opportunity to embark on a complex and extensive survey on such a site, adding the finds shed new light on what life was like in the region more than 2,000 years ago. “It brings us a lot of new data and will enable new views on the Late Iron Age in Bohemia in the future.”