The Galloway Viking Hoard

The Galloway Hoard is a hoard of gold and silver objects from the Viking age discovered in Dumfries and Galloway in south-west Scotland in September 2014.

The hoard has been described by experts as one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in Scotland.

It was discovered by a metal detectorist who reported the find to the authorities. The hoard was valued in 2017 by experts at £2 million.

A county archaeologist carried out an excavation which revealed the presence of a variety of jewellery from various parts of the Viking world. It is thought that the hoard was buried some time in the mid-ninth or tenth century. The hoard consists of a variety of gold and silver objects including armbands, a Christian cross, brooches, ingots, and what is possibly the largest silver Carolingian pot ever discovered. The items among the treasure originated across a wide geographic area that includes Ireland, Scandinavia, and central Europe.

Medieval texts date the arrival of the Vikings in the British Isles to the 790s A.D., when fierce raiders appeared along the coasts, plundering rich monasteries and terrorizing local communities. During the three centuries that followed, ambitious Viking chiefs and their followers arrived to conquer and colonize territories in England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, until they and their descendants were finally defeated or assimilated. Around the early 10th century Viking forces had suffered a serious setback in Ireland, and local Galloway folklore “referred to a Viking army being defeated by a Scots army” at Galloway.

In the upper layer, the team excavated a gold, bird-shaped pin as well as 67 silver ingots and arm rings, many produced by metalworkers in Ireland. This portable silver served as ready cash in the Viking world: the elite hacked off pieces to buy cattle or other commodities, reward loyal followers, or “pay off the troops” in Viking mercenary armies.

Three inches below that trove, researchers found the Carolingian pot, a lidded metal vessel buried upside down, perhaps to keep out ground water. It turned out to be packed with treasures, many carefully swathed in leather and fine textiles. Only six of these Carolingian vessels have ever been found. Scholars believe they were used during important ceremonies in the Catholic Church. The hoard's mixture of gold, silver, glass, enamel, and textiles is unique

An ancient Anglo-Saxon silver cross buried for more than a millennium has been revealed for the first time. The cross was found as part of the Galloway Hoard, a trove of treasures discovered by a metal detectorist in a field in western Scotland in 2014. The cross, decorated using black niello and gold-leaf, features engravings depicting each of the writers of the Gospels. The Galloway Hoard is regarded as one of the richest and most significant finds of Viking objects ever found in the UK. The cross was made in Northumbria -- what is now northern England and southern Scotland -- in the 9th century for a high-ranking cleric.

Research into the Galloway Hoard has uncovered the name of one of its original owners on a silver arm ring. An expert examining Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions on arm rings in the hoard found the name “Ecgbeorht”, which would be Egbert in its modern form.

Secret Room in Rome's Domus Aurea

In 2019 archaeologists found a secret, underground room inside Nero’s palace in Rome.

The Domus Aurea (Latin, "Golden House") was a vast landscaped palace built by Emperor Nero in the heart of Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city.

The Domus Aurea complex covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline, Oppian and Caelian hills.

Its size can only be approximated, as much of it has never been excavated.

Some scholars place it at over 300 acres. Nero commissioned a colossal 35.5m bronze statue of himself, the Colossus Neronis. This statue may have represented Nero as the sun god Sol.

Nero placed mosaics, previously restricted to floors, in the vaulted ceilings. The Golden House was a severe embarrassment to Nero’s successors. It was stripped of its marble, its jewels and its ivory within a decade. Soon after Nero’s death, the palace and grounds were filled with earth and built over: the Baths of Titus were already being built on part of the site in 79 AD.

A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC – 200 AD

Stater Of Pyrrhos I Nike Holding A Trophy 278 BC

Bringing to life the people of ancient Greece, the Onassis Cultural Center New York presented the exhibition "A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC – 200 AD" in 2019. Cup with Achilles Slaying Penthesileia, ca. 470–460 BC

Bronze vessel was made in Pharsalos about 370 BC.

The exhibition brought together more than 130 ancient masterpieces.

Amphora with Scene of Achilles and Ajax Playing a Board Game 540 BC

Trajan - optimus princeps

Trajan (18 September 53 – 8 August 117 AD) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD. He was officially declared by the Senate optimus princeps. ("the best ruler")

Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. Trajan was the first emperor born outside Italy. Trajan is best known for his public building program, which reshaped Rome and left many landmarks such as Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market and Trajan's Column.

Early in his reign, he annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea. His conquest of Dacia enriched the empire greatly, and paid for many of Rome's monuments.

Trajan was succeeded by his adopted son Hadrian.

In 107 Trajan devalued Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 93.5% to 89% – the actual silver weight dropping from 3.04 grams to 2.88 grams. This devaluation, coupled with the massive amount of gold and silver carried off after the Dacian Wars, allowed the emperor to mint a larger quantity of denarii than his predecessors. In late 117, while sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and died of a stroke in the city of Selinus. He was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajan's Column.

In April 2025 a Trajan aureus, dating from 114-117 CE, was unearthed at Newstead in the Scottish Borders. The obverse features a portrait of the Emperor, while the reverse shows the Parthian king surrendering. The “propaganda image” shows Trajan’s campaigns in the Parthian Empire.

Artifacts and Mummies Discovered in Ancient Egyptian Tomb

In 2019 Egypt confirmed an ancient tomb had been found carved in stone from the Greco-Roman period in Aswan, 539 miles south of Cairo.

The Greco-Roman Period (332 B.C.-395 A.D.) saw the rise of Alexander the Great who conquered the Persians who ruled over Egypt at the time, and founded Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt.

Small Ba bird statues were recovered which, according to ancient Egyptian mythology, was believed to fly out of the person’s tomb to join their vital essence in the afterlife.

The tomb contained about 30 mummies, including young children. There were also gold-painted funeral masks, statuettes, amphora-shaped jugs, ritual offering vases, vessels still containing food, coffin fragments, a lamp, and white cartonnages. One of the coffins presented a complete text, detailing the name of the tomb’s owner, Tjt.

$20 gold coin from 'Ship of Gold' makes $282k

The spectacular 1857-S Double Eagle, recovered in 2014 from the SS Central America set a record price for any 1857 San Francisco Mint $20 gold coin in a public auction conducted by Legend Rare Coin Auctions on May 16, 2019. The sunken treasure Double Eagle, graded PCGS MS67, sold for $282,000.

Gallic treasure - Treasure of Tavers

It was feared that the treasure would be sold at a price that could not be matched by museums and it would leave the country.

The 'Treasure of Tavers' hoard was declared a national treasure of France and purchased for €50.000 in 2019. It comprises 58 copper alloy and seven iron and lead pieces, including five full torque necklaces, eighteen bracelets (including six whole), four rings of pegs, three weapons and fragments of crockery. The rare metalwork would have sold for much, much more at auction.

65 pieces of metal, buried 2600 years ago by Gauls, is exceptionally rare. It dates to the protohistoric period, several centuries before the roman conquest.

Augustus aureus - £400k

This aureus was made between 27 BC and 18 BC.

The coin depicts a portrait of Augustus transformed into an ageless Apollo-like classical sculpture on one side. On its reverse is an image of a heifer. Just 22 examples of the heifer-reverse aureus minted during the reign of Augustus are known, of which 15 are in museums. Of the seven in private collections, the one that sold is among the best and most sought after. Brisk bidding at the London auction in 2014 saw the price of the coin soar past its pre-sale estimate of £300k and eventually go for a hammer price of £400k.