By: Boya Hu

On August 2, 2024, Christopher Ratté found 2,400-year-old coins buried in Turkey, believed to have belonged to a soldier. The soldier had hidden them in piles, each pile representing one month of payment called Darics. He died, and the fortune stayed hidden for 2,400 years until Christopher Ratté found the coins. Ratté wasn’t exactly looking for them, though.

According to The New York Times, Darics were mainly used to provide payment to soldiers of fortune. Andrew Meadows, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the project, said he knew of no other hoard of this type to turn up in Asia Minor.

“The coins were buried in a corner of the older building,” Dr. Ratté said. “We weren’t actually looking for a pot of gold.” Researchers said the reasons why the solider buried it are still unclear.

“No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it,” Ratté said. “So only the gravest misfortune can explain the preservation of such a treasure.”

According to LiveScience, a few stylistic clues indicate that the coins were struck sometime during the fifth century B.C. — a time stamp that archaeologists are using to help uncover the sequence of events that led to the treasure’s burial.

The coins will be taken care of and protected. Scientists and researchers hope to discover more information about this mysterious hoard of coins and the soldier who buried them.