Latest news with #metalDetector
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Man Finds Nearly 1,500 Priceless Ancient Coins While Out for a Walk: Thought He Might Be 'in a Dream'
A man recently discovered nearly 1,500 silver coins from ancient Rome while hiking in a field in Romania Local Marius Mangeac was walking with his metal detector, as he "often" does, when the detector emitted a "strong signal," so he started digging Mangeac ultimately turned the coins over to local authorities, but says he hopes to show his child the treasure in a museum someday, "where I can explain I was lucky enough to discover a page [from] the history of our people"A man recently discovered nearly 1,500 silver coins from ancient Rome while hiking. Romanian man Marius Mangeac made the discovery in April while walking with his metal detector in a field near Letea Veche, a small village in the southern part of the country. Mangeac posted about the find in a Facebook post translated from Romanian, writing that he 'did not predict anything would come' of the excursion when he left his home to take a walk that day — and definitely did not think he would come "face to face with history." 'I took my detector and left alone, as I often do, to exercise and to relax in the fields and the forests,' he wrote. Mangeac went on to explain that he uncovered the coins after his metal detector generated a 'strong signal' from a specific spot of grass, adding, 'I could feel my heart beating quite hard and I even thought about pinching myself to convince myself that I was not in a dream.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The local said that — after spending 'two days' meticulously 'taking pictures of every coin" — he ultimately handed them over to the local town hall. 'I hope that one day I will go with my child to the museum, where I can explain how I was lucky enough to discover a page [from] the history of our people,' he added in his post. Mangeac told Romanian news station TVR Info that he hadn't even originally planned to go walking in the field that day. 'Initially, I wanted to go to the forest, but there was tall grass, and I saw this field, and I thought I should go to the field, try it,' he told the outlet. He says he started digging and eventually hit something. 'There was a loud noise from the shovel, and when I dug further, I saw that there were shards and coins,' he said, recalling that he initially did not know what to do. TVR noted that two officers carefully counted the coins after Mangeac brought them to city hall, and the town's mayor, Marian Negru, told the outlet that tourists now have yet another reason to visit their town, which is steeped in Roman history. The silver coins — called denarii — were introduced in Rome in 211 B.C. and were the dominant form of currency for about 500 years, per the Art Institute of Chicago. The coins typically featured the faces of key gods and goddesses on one side, and depicted things like animals, natural resources and other important symbols to the empire on the other. The Institute notes that the goddess Roma, who was 'the personification of Rome,' was the most popular image on the silver denarii for many years. Read the original article on People
CBC
14-05-2025
- General
- CBC
#TheMoment an Ontario boy discovered a shipwreck on Lake Huron
Lucas Atchison, 10, recounts the moment he discovered a 19th-century shipwreck with his metal detector on a Lake Huron beach, which triggered an archaeological dig.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'I did not expect to find a shipwreck!' says boy whose treasure is being excavated
During a family trip to Point Farms Provincial Park north of Goderich, Ont., in 2023, Lucas Atchison was using a metal detector that he got as a gift for his birthday, when he found something big and old. "We were on the beach, we got our metal detector out, and as soon as we set it up, ding! It was a spike from the shipwreck," Lucas said, who is now 10. He recalls alerting his dad, who at first thought the spike may have been used to tie up a boat. But Lucas wasn't convinced, and the pair started digging deeper. What they found was more spikes attached to wood. "Then Dad told me, 'Lucas this is a shipwreck,'" the boy explained. "When I woke up that morning I did not expect to find a shipwreck!" Dad Jason Atchison said they reported the find to provincial parks staff, and then reached out to the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee (OMHC), a non-profit volunteer group dedicated to recording and preserving marine history. This week, with Lucas keeping a close eye on the work, excavation on the shipwreck began with an OMHC team digging to see exactly what Lucas found. Excavation work begins The approvals process to dig takes time, with regulatory requirements needing to be met, according to marine archeologist Scarlett Janusas and marine historian Patrick Folkes. They first met the Atchisons in the fall of 2023 at the beach to show them where they should be looking. Then, on Wednesday, a group of volunteers from the OMHC arrived with heavy machinery supplied by the provincial park, and then switching to hand shovels, trowels and brushes to see what the sand had buried. So far, Janusas said they found a smaller portion of the ship than they had hoped, but determined the section was frames from the side of the ship. "We had double frames, which seems to suggest that it was stronger-built ship and we believe that it was a schooner," said Janusas. "A schooner is usually a two-masted sailing vessel, usually wooden." Maybe the St. Anthony? There wasn't enough of the ship to definitively determine its identity, but Folkes says one candidate is the schooner St. Anthony. "[It] was wrecked in October of 1856 on a voyage … from Chicago to Buffalo, New York, with a load of grain," he said. "It was described as having gone ashore four miles north of Goderich, which fits about where this wreckage is, and this would only represent a very small piece." The volunteers will complete scale drawings of the wreck, including a plan view (from on top) and profile (side view) of the wreck. Folkes says that 19th century insurance requirements would specify how many fasteners, or spikes, should be placed in the frames and at what distance. Those details, he said, will help determine the ship's age. What comes next might be surprising. The volunteers will then rebury the ship to preserve it. "We fill the hole back in, bury it and create an anaerobic environment, i.e. without oxygen, so you don't have any kind of parasites in there or any other organisms that will eat or destroy the wreckage," said Janusas. "It's not a perfect solution but it does maintain the structure of that ship probably for at least another 50 years."
