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A thunderstorm unearths a treasure of Gallic gossip from Marseille, west London

2021-07-25T04:17:19.931Z


Hundreds of pieces of tin and copper, dating from the 1st century BC. AD were discovered during an excavation in the west of the capital of England.


These gossip are not rumors but copper, tin and lead coins used by the Gauls.

A thunderstorm enabled a team of British archaeologists to locate in Hillingdon, west London, a treasure of some three hundred Gallic pieces, dated to the 1st century BC.

AD A discovery that could have a historical explanation because, as it is related in

The Gallic Wars

, in 55 and 54 the legions of Julius Caesar had twice attempted to conquer what the Romans then called Brittany.

Read also: The Gauls, from legend to history

For Helen Wass, the archaeologist who led these excavations, “

this find is unique and should provide essential historical elements to better understand how and why our ancestors settled in London.

"

Read also: Costa Rica recovers 1,305 pre-Columbian pieces from the United States

The gossip found measure about 3cm in diameter and would have been struck, according to the first analyzes of specialists, in Massilia (Marseille) about 2,175 years ago.

On one side we recognize the stylized portrait of the Greek god of arts and male beauty, Apollo, and on the other side we see the design of a charging bull.

It was therefore the thunderstorm rains that allowed archaeologists to find this historical treasure. The water falling on the ground oxidized the alloy of the gossip. A dark blue-green color, characteristic of the chemical reaction, suddenly revealed the presence of the coins hidden by the earth covering them. The recovered gossip was immediately renamed, Hillingdon Hoard (Hillingdon's Treasure). Sent to the Birmingham Museum, they will be analyzed using the most advanced scientific investigation methods.

Several hypotheses have already been put forward by specialists. Was this gossip an offering to the gods, a hidden store of wealth, or even the delimitation of a property? At the time of writing, none of these leads is yet favored by British archaeologists.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-07-25

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