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Monday, 15th March 2010 (749 views)

A rosewood cross decorated with gold found by an American metal detectorist has been identified as one dating back to the Roman era.

The hand-carved item is inlaid with 22-c gold and was discovered in a reliquary close to Key Largo by Carl Fismer, the News-Journal reports.

He displayed the artefact at the Treasure Show at the Maude Cobb Convention Center in Longview over the weekend and revealed that the cross was one that had been cut by the Romans when they crucified saints.

Gold was used by the Romans for both decorative and financial purposes.

In 2001, a hoard of Roman gold aureus coins - struck from 22-c gold - was discovered buried in the City of London.

The coins were found to date back to a 100-year period between 65 and 174 AD, with the pieces bearing the images of eight emperors and empresses.

A Roman gold coin found in Derbyshire recently featured in the BBC and the British Museum's A History of the World initiative, which uses a variety of artefacts to explore millions of years of history.

 

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