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Ancient Roman coins found in ruined Japanese

castle
By Emiko Jozuka, CNN
Updated 0800 GMT (1600 HKT) September 27, 2016

Photos: Discovered: Incredible luxury found in unexpected places

Ancient Roman coins were recently discovered in Okinawa, Japan. This image shows the front of a Rom
coin.
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Story highlights
10 old coins were found in Katsuren castle in
Okinawa
Five are believed to be from the Roman
empire and one is from the Ottoman empire

(CNN) When archeologist Hiroyuki Miyagi heard that

a bunch of ancient Roman and Ottoman coins had
been unearthed from the ruins of an old castle in
Okinawa, he initially thought it was a hoax.
"I couldn't believe they'd found coins from the Roman
empire in Kasturen castle," Miyagi, who works at
Okinawa International University, told CNN.
"I thought that they were replicas that had been
dropped there by tourists."

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A chance discovery
Since 2013, a team of archeologists from Uruma city's local Board of Education has been excavating
Katsuren castle -- a UNESCO world heritage site -- which is located in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost
prefecture.
Yet the ancient coins -- ten in total -- were only discovered recently when Toshio Tsukamoto, a researcher
from Gangoji temple cultural properties department, spotted them when he traveled to the castle from
Nara. The Uruma Board of Education announced their discovery Monday.

A team of archeologist excavate the Kasturen castle site.

"I'd come to analyze artifacts like Japanese samurai armor that had been found there when I spotted the
coins," Tsukamoto, told CNN.

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"I'd been on excavation sites in Egypt and Italy and

had seen a lot of Roman coins before, so I recognized
them immediately."

The coins were later submitted to Miyagi, who

examined them using X-ray technology.
"You can see the engravings on the coins clearer
when you use X-rays," Miyagi, told CNN.

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The archeologist found that the Ottoman coin had

inscriptions that dated it to 1687, while the Roman
coins appeared to be much older -- from at least 300
to 400 AD.

Mysterious origins

An aerial view of the Kasturen castle excavation site.

It's hard to tell where exactly these coins came from, Masaki Yokou, a spokesperson from Uruma city's
Board of Education, told CNN.
Dubbing it a "strange and interesting nd," Yokou explained that Katsuren castle was known to have trade
relations with China and other neighboring Asian countries in the 14th and 15th century.

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The front of an Ottoman coin. One of the ten ancient coins that were discovered in
Katsuren castle.
"We don't think that there is a direct link between the Roman empire and Katsuren castle, but the
discovery conrms how this region had trade relations with the rest of Asia," Yokou, told CNN.
Both Yokou and Tsukamoto speculated that the coins
ended up in Japan after passing through di@erent
trade routes that linked the West to Asia.

Miyagi, who called the discovery "remarkable," said

the next step was to try and nd out how exactly
these coins ended up in Japan.
Other artifacts found at Katsuren castle's excavation
site include Japanese ceramics and objects used by
castle inhabitants, as well as Chinese coins and
ceramics that would have be acquired through trade
with China.

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in Israel 01:11

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Photos: Can 'fast-forward' China safeguard its past?

China's ancient cultural sites under threat The Great Wall stretches from Hebei province in the east to G

province to the west, and stretches over 220,000 kilometers. This photo shows a section of the wall nea
border of Liaoning and Hebei province that was repaired in 2014. Great Wall of China Society deputy dire
Dong Yaohui said the repair was done "very badly"
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"The Chinese ceramics and coins that we found date back at least 600 to 700 years and we'd like to
analyze those objects in tandem with these coins to work out how the coins may have ended up here,"
said Miyagi.

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