See what other shocking find was made in neighbouring Germany
A STASH of hundreds of Bible-era coins have been found by metal detectors in The Netherlands.
The haul of over 400 early Roman-era coins was found near the city of Utrecht, about 30 miles south of Amsterdam.
Researchers have discovered that 44 of the gold and silver coins bear the name of Celtic king Cunobeline, who ruled in southern Britain before the Roman conquest.
He ruled between AD 5 and AD 40 in the south-east of the country.
There are also coins bearing the Roman emperor Claudius and the north African king Juba I who once ruled in what is now Algeria.
The coins, which are on display at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, date from AD 46.
The museum has revealed that the collection consists of a "unique combination of Roman and British coins" which has never before been found on the mainland of Europe.
It is believed that the British coins were seized by Roman soldiers as spoils of war from their battles across the North Sea.
The amount of money retrieved is said to have been equivalent to about 11 years of wages for a regular Roman soldier.
It is believed that the coins may have been given as a monetary gift given to soldiers to reward them for a successful expedition or campaign, the museum has said.
The two metal-detecting enthusiasts and amateur archaeologists, Gert-Jan Messelaar and Reinier Koelink, discovered the haul of 381 coins in a field in Bunnik.
This area was the northern border of the Roman Empire, known as the Lower German Limes.
The coins were in a shallow pit, less than 30cm deep and stored in a cloth or leather pouch.
This sparked a second search led by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands which found 23 more.
After being dug up in October 2023, the coins were taken to Landschap Erfgoed Utrecht, a local heritage and conservation organization.
Here they underwent expert analysis by archaeologists before being cleaned up to be put on display for the public.
The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden bought the haul and visitors can see the coins in the new exhibition launched on January 27 called The Netherlands in the Roman Times.
Anton Cruysheer, from the Utrecht Landscape and Heritage Foundation, said: "This is the first time that physical evidence of the return of the troops has been found.
"Apparently they came back with all sorts of things. That is new information."
Speaking about their find, Messelaar said: "We opened a bottle of champagne; you never find this."
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Germany, a 400-year-old cache of ancient treasure was found crammed inside the leg of a statue in a church.
Restoration workers found four "bulging" bags of golden coins concealed inside a stone cavity when they were working on a famous statue in the St Andrews Church in Eisleben.
Historians think the bounty was hidden from Swedish looters who frequently plundered the region during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century.