Rich Gran Coclé grave

In the tropical lowlands of central Panama, located in the Natá de los Caballeros District, about 124 miles southwest of Panama City, archaeologists unearthed a stunningly rich tomb.

The Gran Coclé culture first emerged around 150 C.E. and thrived. The central figure in Tomb 3 dates back to between 800 and 1000 A.D. Archaeologists cataloged an array of grave goods, including gold pectorals resting on the chest, two matching bracelets and two heavy earrings, as well as finely painted ceramics.

Rich burials at El Caño have appeared for years. In a previous find from the same necropolis, researchers uncovered the 1,200-year-old grave of a high-status chief — a man in his 30s — whose journey to the afterlife required 31 other people who were “sacrificed to serve as companions.” The 'Lord of the Flutes' as some might call him based on the grave goods, was found in a position that defines the Coclé elite ritual. He had been buried face down — a standard practice for high-ranking individuals of this era — resting directly on top of the body of a woman.

This older tomb includes two belts made entirely of gold beads and two delicate gold bells. Archaeologists also found earrings fashioned from sperm whale teeth and capped in gold, which is a clear sign of long-distance maritime trade.

The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Mrs Edith Pretty lived in the village of Sutton Hoo, overlooking the River Deben and the town of Woodbridge in Suffolk. She believed that there were important ancient burial mounds on her property. In 1938 she asked an archaeologist to excavate the barrows. Three of the mounds had been robbed in ancient times but one still contained a spectacular Anglo Saxon royal burial chamber built inside a 30 metre long wooden ship. 263 luxury items were found, including an iconic iron helmet, gold and garnet jewelry, weapons, silver from the Byzantine Empire, and a large gold belt buckle.

Inside the burial mound was the imprint of a decayed ship and a central chamber filled with unfathomable treasures. It is the richest intact early medieval grave ever found in Europe. More than a grave, it was a spectacular funerary monument. The Sutton Hoo Treasure is one of the most important finds in British history.

The treasure included armour, weapons, gold coins, gold jewellery with garnet settings, silver cups and silver-supported drinking horns, a leather purse with a jewelled cover containing 37 gold Merovingian coins, three coin-sized blanks and two ingots.

The burial chamber was probably constructed for an East Anglian monarch (bretwalda) - likely King Rædwald.

The site has been vital to historians for insight into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia and the early Anglo-Saxon period in the 6th century.

The gold belt buckle is a masterpiece of early medieval craftsmanship, made using over 400g of gold with an intricate decoration of intertwining creatures inlaid with niello (a black metal alloy). A purse lid would have been attached to a leather pouch which originally hung from a waist-belt. Frankish gold coins were found inside. Only the gold frame and catch survived, the leather pouch had decayed away.Gold coins and ingots were found inside the purse. Each coin came from a different mint in Francia, across the English Channel, and they provide key evidence for the date of the burial. Analysis of their gold content and date of minting point towards the period around AD 610–635.

The shield had a metal rim and gilded copper alloy and gold and garnet fittings. It is the most elaborate shield to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. The original board, made from lime wood covered in animal hide, perished and has been replaced with a modern replica.

The true identity of the grave's inhabitant may never be certain. When it was unearthed, any bodily remains had long since been claimed by the acidic soil leaving only a human-shaped gap among the treasures.

Marble Mosaic from Caligula's ‘Orgy Ship’

The square slab of marble flooring, decorated with a floral motif made of pieces of green and red porphyry, serpentine and molded glass, was discovered at an Italian collector's apartment in New York. The artifact was stolen from Italy's Roman Ship Museum after World War II and was seized by the New York district attorney's office from the collection of Helen Fioratti. She purchased the piece more than 45-years-ago from an aristocratic Italian family that lived on Lake Nemi. Lake Nemi is a small volcanic lake located about 30 km (19 mi) south of Rome. The artifact dates to Caligula's reign, 37-41 AD and came from one of his three ships built at Lake Nemi.

Described as floating palaces, the ships were noted for their extreme opulence and luxury. The ships were over 70 meters long and were richly decorated with marble, gold and bronze. Caligula built 230-foot-long floating palaces on Lake Nemi, which has a circumference of 3.5 miles.

After Caligula was killed, his ships were sunk and remained underwater for centuries. Benito Mussolini was the first to launch an organized exploration of the lake and two vessels were retrieved between 1928 and 1932. They were destroyed by fire by retreating Germans in 1944. The third ship, which was the most luxurious of the three, was never retrieved. The short reign of Caligula was expensive for the citizens of Rome.

Lake Nemi

Treasure of Zlatinitsa–Malomirovo

Gold and silver greave (knee-piece)

The Treasure of Zlatinitsa–Malomirovo is a rich ancient Thrace gold and silver treasure from the 4th century BC, the time of the Odrysian Kingdom. The Zlatinitsa–Malomirovo Treasure was discovered in 2005. Excavations were carried out after the large mound had been targeted repeatedly by treasure hunters trying to loot it. The mound was part of a large necropolis. The Malomirovo-Zlatinitsa tomb was merely a hole in the ground – a shaft with wooden walls and wooden floor. But what it held immediately identified it as a burial site of a Thracian ruler. He died at the age of 18-20.

One of the two deer head-shaped gold-coated silver rhytons

The remains of one of the ritually sacrificed horses carried in its haunch a calcified arrowhead (showing that the piece had remained there for a long time). The incredible preservation was likely due to a high salt content.

A gold laurel wreath with an image of ancient victory goddess Nike was found along with 29 gold rosettes which attached to a leather band placed on the dead Thracian ruler’s head at the time of his burial. A ring from the Zlatinitsa – Malomirovo Treasure depicts a scene from ancient Thracian mythology. The huge gold seal ring was worn by the unknown Thracian ruler on the little finger of his left hand.

In Thracian mythology the Great Mother Goddess offers a phiale (bowl) to the Horseman – King (the Thracian Horseman) in order to make him part of the world of gods.

The armaments found included an iron sword of the makhaira type typical for the Thracians, 200 bronze arrows, 7 spears, an iron chain armor, and a bronze Chalcidian type helmet. On his feet, the buried Thracian ruler had a pair of leather moccasins, the first such find.

Ancient gold of Romania

What archaeologists called the "most sensational finds of the last century" surfaced not in a museum but at Christie's New York. Among ancient jewelry for sale on December 8, 1999, was Lot 26, a spiraling, snake-shaped gold bracelet that was identified as a "massive Greek or Thracian gold armband."

Christie's estimated it would sell for as much as $100k. When the bidding stalled at $65k the bracelet and its owner disappeared back into the underworld of ancient artifacts. Lot 26, "massive Greek or Thracian gold arm band," circa 2nd-1st Century, B. C.

Lot 26 set off a search to recover the lost heirlooms of Dacia, an empire that was once a rival to ancient Rome. After nearly a decade of sleuthing more than a dozen similar bracelets have been found, along with hundreds of gold and silver coins. Their discovery has led to new insights into Dacian society and religion. Sarmizegetusa was once the capital of the Dacians, a civilization crushed by the Roman Emperor Trajan in two bloody wars more than 1,900 years ago. The victory, Roman chroniclers boasted, yielded one of the largest treasures the ancient world had ever known: half a million pounds of gold and a million pounds of silver.

After his victory, Trajan took the spoils to Rome, where they paid for his forum. The Roman Senate erected a column dedicated to Trajan illustrating the story of his wars. Sarmizegetusa was forgotten. But stories of Dacia's gold lived on, inspiring generations of locals who lived nearby to dig in the steep valleys. It wasn't until Romania's communist dictatorship collapsed in 1989 that dreams of striking it rich came true. Groups of local treasure hunters started using metal detectors to hunt for artifacts in the thick forests at the rugged site.

Treasure hunters hit the mother lode in May 2000, according to police.

Their metal detector pinged over a stone slab about two feet wide, embedded in a steep hillside. Underneath, in a small chamber made of flat stones propped against each other, they found ten spiraling, elaborately decorated Dacian bracelets, all solid gold. Over the next two years, Romanian police say, looters found at least 14 more bracelets at Sarmizegetusa.

Sarmizegetusa's stolen gold was nearly lost. Recovering it involved a decade of sleuthing by Romanian prosecutors and museum curators. In all, Romanian authorities have recovered 13 hammered gold bracelets and more than 27.5 pounds (12.5 kilograms) of gold.

The recovered bracelets—now on display in Bucharest, are the only ones of their kind discovered in Romania. At least another dozen, including the one still known as Lot 26, remain missing.

Looted ancient coins, bracelets returned to Romania

In 2018 gold coins and bracelets from the 1st century were returned to Romania. The items were looted from western Romania and smuggled out of the country. They were put on display after a joint investigation with Austria brought them back home.

The hoard of gold and silver artifacts was presented at Romania's National History Museum.

473 coins and 18 bracelets were taken from archaeological sites in the Orastie Mountains that had been inhabited by Dacians, who fought against the Romans in the early 2nd century.

Aureus of Hadrian - 67k in 2019

An aureus of Hadrian (A.D. 117 to 138). The reverse shows the river god Nilus reclining, half draped, with one arm supporting his weight on a sphinx and the other holding a cornucopia. Part of Hadrian’s “Travel Series” where he celebrated his travels including an extended visit to Egypt in 130 to 131.