The hungry badger helped find the treasure
The Hungry Badger has unearthed the largest collection of Roman coins ever found in northern Spain.
The treasure was found near an animal burrow in the municipality of Grado, Asturias.
It is believed that the animal found the treasure while desperately looking for food last winter, which was harsh.
In desperate attempts to find food, the animal, which was, according to researchers, a badger, opened a small crack near his shelter.
But the animal did not find the use of old coins, leaving some of them near his lair.
Archaeologists have found 209 items while visiting a La Cuesta cave with a local resident, according to a report recently published in the Archaeological Journal.
The collection of coins turned out to be a real find dating back to about 3 – 5 centuries AD.
It is believed that the coins were minted in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey) and Thessaloniki (Greece), one of the researchers of the Spanish newspaper El País.
The researchers added that it is the largest treasure of Roman coins found in a cave in northern Spain.
Other treasures were found in the forests of Grado in the 1930s. Then in this area found 14 gold coins from the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine I.
The research project, funded by the Department of Culture of the Province of Asturias, is in its infancy and researchers are hoping for additional excavations.
But so far only the badger knows if another treasure can be found.