A metal detectorist who illegally excavated a Roman coin and silver hoard in the Hildesheim area of Lower Saxony in 2017 has confessed to the authorities after concealing its existence for eight years. The hoard consists of around 450 silver denarii, several silver bars, a gold ring and a gold coin. It dates to the 1st century A.D., but beyond its monetary value, it is of great archaeological importance. It is one of the largest Roman Imperial hoards ever discovered in Lower Saxony.
The hoard was discovered in the woods near Borsum by metal detectorist Jannik Pauli. Pauli has been metal detecting since he was a child, and as an adult never got the official permit required to metal detect legally. He frequently got into arguments over it with city officials, so when he uncovered a hoard of hundreds of silver coins and other precious objects he decided just to loot them and keep quiet lest he be fined or legally sanctioned. He kept the treasure in a wooden box in his home in the Achtum neighborhood of Hildesheim.
In April of this year, Pauli told the police what he’d done and handed over the treasure. The prosecutor’s office tried to put a case together against him, but Pauli had kept mum so long the statute of limitations had run out. He pointed archaeologists to the find site and in October a team explored the area thoroughly.
The Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation, in cooperation with the Lower Monument Protection Authority of the Hildesheim district and the Hildesheim City Archaeology Department, conducted an archaeological investigation of the area surrounding the suspected site. The aim of the archaeological probing was to locate the illegal excavation site in 2017 and to recover objects still in the ground. Particular attention was paid to the question of whether, despite the destroyed context of the finds due to improper excavation in 2017, information about the manner in which the coins were deposited 2,000 years ago could still be obtained. Additional coins were found during this investigation; the entire hoard was recovered following the excavation.
The Borsum Hoard is now being conserved and studied by the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation. Archaeologists hope to be able to narrow down the chronology of the deposition, to determine the origins of the silver. Scientific analysis may help identify whether the hoard was buried by Romans or by Germanic tribesmen to keep it safe during conflict intending to return when the fighting was over.
As for Jannik Pauli, he is now 31 and appears to have repented the errors of his early 20s. He has taken the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation’s metal detector course, a necessary step to becoming a legally permitted metal detectorist.
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