paul_taylor21•1mo agoProlific Poster

Found a Roman coin in my backyard last week and I'm still shook

I was digging a hole for a new fence post last Thursday (just a normal suburban backyard in Ohio, nothing special) and my shovel hit something hard. Turned out to be a small bronze coin, all green and crusty. I rinsed it off with water and saw a faint head on one side. I sent a photo to a local archaeologist at the university and he said it looks like a 4th century Roman coin, maybe from the reign of Constantine. Apparently there was a Roman settlement nearby that got rediscovered back in the 70s, but nobody told me when I bought this house 5 years ago. I'm still trying to figure out how it ended up here. Has anyone else found old coins in really random places like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

tarabell1mo ago

Did you try the metal detector trick it helped me find a bunch of old stuff?

kelly6381mo agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, that "faint head" detail really got me because I used to think random backyard finds were always just junk or old bottle caps. But seeing someone actually verify a Roman coin from Ohio completely changed my mind about how common historical artifacts can be. It's wild how a normal chore like digging a fence post can turn into an actual archaeological moment.

the_wesley1mo ago

My uncle found a 1790s Spanish silver coin here in Illinois like 20 years ago... people don't realize how much trade happened across the Ohio River valley back then. Roman coins show up more than you'd think because of collectors who brought them over in the 1800s and then lost or buried them. The faint head detail is actually a big clue for these old coins because worn surfaces are common when stuff gets moved around in soil for decades. It makes you wonder what else is sitting just a few inches under everyone's yards without them knowing.