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Treasure trove of ancient silver coins found “hidden in a hole in the wall” in Sicily
A collection of ancient silver coins was unearthed recently on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, officials said this week. The treasure trove dates back more than 2,000 years, with the origins estimated to be somewhere between 94 B.C. and 74 B.C.
Archaeologists found the coins “hidden in a hole in the wall” while performing restoration work on the Acropolis of Santa Teresa and San Marco, a historic landmark on the island of Pantelleria off the southern coast of Italy, between Sicily and Tunisia, the regional heritage office for the island announced on Monday.
There were 27 of them, each characterized as a denarius — the main silver coin used in ancient Rome for several centuries after its introduction around 200 B.C.
Archaeological Park of Selinunte, Cave di Cusa and Pantelleria
The team, led by Thomas Schäfer from the University of Tübingen in Germany, initially spotted some of the coins by chance in soil that had loosened after a period rain, officials said. They then dug beneath a rock to uncover the rest of the haul. The coins were cleaned and restored before the announcement was posted to the Facebook page for the archaeological park encompassing Pantelleria and two other sites on Sicily’s mainland, Cave di Cusa and Selinunte.
The coins were minted during the Roman Republic, which existed for nearly 500 years until the the founding of the Roman Empire in 27 B.C.
This latest find came after another trove of the same variety of silver Roman coins, dating back to roughly the same time period, was discovered at the same site on Pantelleria in 2010. Officials said that initial haul included 107 coins. A few years before that, excavations near those sites led to the discovery of three marble sculptures depicting the heads of former Roman emperors Julius Caesar and Titus Flavius Vespasian, as well as Agrippina, an empress and prominent female figure in ancient Rome. The sculptures have been displayed at the Salinas Museum in Palermo as well as the British Museum in London.
Officials said the newest discovery on Pantelleria is valuable to archaeologists and historians in the region as it contributes to their understanding of the Roman Republic, how it was structured and what politics and commerce might have been like in the Mediterranean at that time.
Schäfer suggested that the treasure could have potentially ended up in the spot where his team found it after being hidden intentionally during an invasion of the island by pirates, which happened often in ancient times. The archaeologist said it was possible the treasure was buried back then and never recovered because so much of the acropolis remained untouched for centuries.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Wagon rolls over at Wisconsin apple orchard injuring about 25 children and adults