Ancient and other "foreign" coins found at medieval site in Japan

I can only guess either early conquest - or early international trade.

Archaeologists have been stunned by the discovery of Roman coins in the ruins of a Japanese castle.

The coins were excavated from the ruins of Katsuren Castle in Okinawa Prefecture, according to the Japan Times, noting that this is the country’s first discovery of its kind.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/09/28/roman-coins-discovered-in-ruins-japanese-castle.html

 

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For the glory of Rome!

 

Kind of cool to read stuff like this. But these are some Doug probably lost during his globe trotting days.

 

Roman coins have been found in China that got there before Marco Polo. Not too surprising that some made it across the Sea of Japan, but still a really neat find.

Cal

 

3rd or 4th century roman coins found in the ruins of a 12th to 15th century castle don't surprise me near as much as the 17th century coin found there. After all the roman coins had 800 to 12 years to find their way there. The 17th century coin was struck 200 years after the castle ceased to exist. How did it get there? Time traveler or site contamination? And if that coin was site contamination, could the roman coins be so as well?

 

"Archaeologists have been stunned"

Then they should stay out of the river!!

 

Archaeologists have put out an all-points bulletin for this man:

 

Skip BaylASS?

 

Ready to have your mind blown?...

He is the archeologist

 

Who knows - it could have been a coin collector during the samurai era and somehow managed to amass Roman coins.

 

Pretty interesting read. Perhaps some noble back in the day had an interest in numismatics?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...708bc0-94f8-11e6-9cae-2a3574e296a6_story.html