The decline and fall of the Roman currency empire

GateUser-9ad11037 · 2026-03-27T10:21:36+00:00

In 1847, laborers in Kottayam, Kerala, discovered a hoard of ancient gold coins, which they traded cheaply. While many coins were melted down, some survived, providing valuable insights into global currency and ancient economies, with finds in locations like Scotland.

GateUser-9ad11037

2026-03-27 10:21:36

Abstract generation in progress

In 1847 a few poor labourers living near Kottayam, a city in what is now the Indian state of Kerala, stumbled upon a hoard of gold coins. They exchanged these for a day’s worth of rice or a few rupees. The merchants who got the coins at knock-down prices melted them into jewellery or ornaments, oblivious that they were destroying 1,800-year-old Roman artefacts. Luckily for archaeologists, some of the stash survived. The coins have proved priceless for the study of economics, too, as an early example of a global currency. The same gold aurei have shown up in dig sites as far away as Scotland.

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