German detectorist finds 15 coins; archaeologists unearth 934 Roman denarii

Sometimes the greatest discoveries are the ones you make when you stop digging. Amateur metal detectorist Oliver Riedl found 15 silver coins buried under a field in western Germany but when his detector kept beeping he suspected there was more under the soil. Rather than chasing the find himself, he alerted archaeologists, who recovered 934 Roman silver coins that had been buried for nearly 2,000 years. The find offers a rare insight into the wealth, everyday life and uncertainties of the Roman world.A signal undergroundThe discovery occurred near Wesseling, a town on the Rhine River just south of Cologne. Riedl was searching a field in North Rhine-Westphalia with permission to use his metal detector when he began finding silver denarii, Smithsonian Magazine reported.Recovering 15 coins, the signal remained strong indicating the find went far beyond the original discovery.