EARLIEST ROMAN SETTLEMENT IN BRITAIN REVEALED BY SILVER COINS DATING BACK TO 2,000 YEARS

ORK, ENGLAND—Silver coins dating back 2,000 years that were unearthed by metal detectorists in 2015 have led archaeologists to one of the earliest Roman settlements in northern Britain, according to a report in The Guardian. “All the coins date back to the time of the emperor Vespasian [A.D. 69-79], when the Romans marched north and established a center at York,” says project manager Lisa Westcott Wilkins.

The team has uncovered evidence that the settlement was the home of high-status families, including more silver coins, decorated ceramic bowls and amphoras that would have held imported wine, as well as an infant buried with a small brooch. They also identified postholes, foundation trenches, and the possible remnants of one or two villas. The location of the site is currently being withheld to protect it from looters. “We have many settlements from later periods—3rd and 4th centuries—but this one is much earlier and much higher status,” Wilkins says. “This is why it is so rare.”