From the Gauls and Romans to the Merovingians.

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Sep 5, 2016
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Hey everyone,
Just came back from a family visit to Europe and wanted to share with you some of the discoveries I've made during the 3 weeks trip abroad.

I was lucky enough to meet a few farmers over there who gave me the permission to explore some of their fields not far from the area I was staying in.
The results were better than I expected, with the relics and coins ranging from the antiquity to the industrial age.
I will make two posts of my finds. One for the antiquity and late antiquity and the other one for the medieval and modern period.

The Gauls

Found a few coins of a Celtic Gallic tribe called Senones - circa 55 B.C. They were famously conquered by Julius Caesar in 51 B.C.
Three of the coins were made of ''potin'' and one of bronze. On this one you can see a Senones warrior on the obverse with the tribe's stallion on the reverse.
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A different warrior and the bird on the reverse of the bronze coin.
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The Romans

Had way less success with Roman finds. Although I have found quiet a few Roman coins, non were in a decent shape. One find worth mentioning was actually on my bucket list and I was really happy to discover it.

A partial Roman bronze key. Looking at this relic, it's hard to believe the complexity of the lock mechanisms they had almost 2000 years ago.
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The Merovingians

''The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for three centuries in a region known as Francia, beginning in the middle of the 5th century. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior and the southern part of Germania. The semi legendary Merovech was supposed to have founded the Merovingian dynasty, but it was his famous grandson Clovis I (ruled c. 481–511) who united all of Gaul under Merovingian rule.''

I was extremely privileged to discover some beautiful relics of this period, I find them particularly unique.

A large bronze zoomorphic belt plate in shape of the horse's head. Circa 6th-7th century A.D.
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An other zoomorphic plate (in shape of an owl?)
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An other beautiful bronze plate. I'm wondering if it had an enamel decoration.
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One of two Merovingian bronze fibulas I have found. This one has a cross engraved on both sides.
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A silver plated ''scutiform'' (in the shape of a shield) belt decoration.
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The oldest button I've ever found. Again 6-7th century A.D. (Still can't believe I got the second half as well).
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And a few buckles of the same period
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Thanks for the comments. I will try to make an other post with medieval and later period finds in a few days.
 

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Upvote 35
Damn I can imagine rising heartbeat with each second. Thats why I fell in love in this. Great that those villagers agreed, they wanted something in return ??

No, they didn't ask for anything in return. But I did leave some interesting coins and relics with them before leaving. One farmer already had a nice collection as he would occasionally find some stone tools on his fields.
 

Outstanding finds! Congrats. It's interesting that all those different artifacts all have the circle with the dot in the middle. What does that symbolize? It even appears to be on one of the coins as well?

Thanks xcopperstax.
I'm not sure about the meaning of this symbol but it was present on most of Merovingian buckles and brooches. Other cultures used it as well like the Anglo-Saxons and latter the Vikings.
 

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Amazing post! I was so happy when I saw a post from you from overseas trip! You post from France last year was just the best! I put my banner vote in on those 4 coins. Wow! But maybe I should have saved my vote for your next post? Can't wait to see it!

Thanks Rubka888 I'll try to make the second post before the week end. There are much more finds from the medieval period and I just need to finish the research on some of them.
 

Amazing finds! You seem to do really well on your trips to Europe.

Thanks Steve in PA. Was lucky with getting the good permissions and invested a good amount of hours exploring them. Luckily,it paid off at the end.
 

Just wondering if you are planning on cleaning
the clay from those Celtic coins?
 

Just wondering if you are planning on cleaning
the clay from those Celtic coins?

No, I think I'll keep it on them. It gives them a contrast, the details are visible way better.
 

That's a dream hunt amazing finds wow Thanks for sharing
 

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