A rich deposit of follis dating back to the first half of the fourth century AD has been discovered in the sea off the northeastern coast of Sardinia, in the territory of Arzachena. According to an initial estimate, made on the basis of the total weight of the find, the number of large bronze coins would be between 30,000 and 50,000. Many more, therefore, than those found in 2013 in the United Kingdom, in Seaton, when 22,888 follis resurfaced. In addition to the latter, walls of amphorae of African production and, in smaller numbers, of eastern production have also been identified. The finds were discovered by a private citizen who, during a dive, noticed metal remains at a shallow depth not far from the coast. The next day, the Underwater Archaeological Unit of the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Sassari and Nuoro together with the Carabinieri of the Sardinia Cultural Heritage Protection Unit and the Sardinia Underwater Carabinieri Unit carried out an initial reconnaissance in the affected stretch of sea, with the collaboration of the Cagliari Carabinieri Divers Unit and the Sassari Fire Brigade Unit, together with the State Police, the Guardia di Finanza and the Port Authorities. The dives revealed the existence of two macro-areas of dispersal of follis in a large sandy clearing between the beach and the posidonia: the latter, due to its position and morphology of the seabed, could preserve conspicuous remains of a wreck. All the coins taken are in an exceptional and rare state of preservation. Only four pieces are found to be damaged, though still legible. The chronological context of the coins can be found in a time span between 324 (coinage of Licinius) and 340 CE. The dating is confirmed by the presence of coinage of Constantine the Great and that of all other family members present as caesars but especially by the absence of centenionales, minted from 346 AD onward. The group of follis recovered comes from almost all the mints of the empire active in that period except Antioch, Alexandria, and Carthage.
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