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jewellery hoard

"Buried treasure" from Ancient Roman times found under department store

A woman buried a pile of precious jewellery under her house – because the city was under attack.

BACK IN AD 61, the Roman residents of Comulodunum, what’s now called Colchester, in England were on high alert.

The Revolt was taking place, and Romans were under attack from native Britons.

They were burning down towns in an attempt to get back at them for occupying Britain – but their attempts didn’t work in the end.

It’s thought that in the early stages of the Boudican Revolt (Boudicca being a tribal queen who led the tribe to destroy Comulodunum), a wealthy Roman woman buried her ‘treasure’ – precious gold and silver jewellery – under her home… where it was found almost 2,000 years later by archaeologists.

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Colchester archaeologists found the hoard under the Williams & Griffin store in Colchester’s High Street, and say it’s “the first Roman hoard of precious metals ever found in Colchester town centre”.

Here’s what they found under the house:

bracelet-and-armlets-labelled The 'buried treasure' belonging to a wealthy Roman woman.

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All pics: Colchester Archaeologist

Read: Kilkenny ‘pop-up’ museum lets you uncover Ireland’s past>

Read: The mystery of the 6,500-year-old skeleton found in a museum basement>

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