A Roman hoard containing 450 silver coins, several silver bars, a gold ring, and a gold ring has been discovered near Borsum in the district of Hildesheim, Germany.

The silver hoard, which is probably around 2,000 years old and dates back to the early Roman Imperial period, was discovered by an illegal metal detectorist in 2017. It was only recently that he reported his find to the police and the authorities for monument preservation in the city of Hildesheim, where it is currently still located. In April 2025, the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation (NLD) conducted an initial inspection and survey of the site with the finder. Last week, the NLD, in cooperation with the Lower Monument Protection Authority of the Hildesheim District and the City Archaeology Office of Hildesheim, carried out an archaeological investigation of the area surrounding the presumed site of the find. The aim of the archaeological inspection was to locate the illegal excavation site from 2017 and recover any objects still in situ. Despite the destruction of the find context due to the improper excavation in 2017, archaeologists hoped to find out how the coins were originally deposited 2,000 years ago. During this investigation, further coins were found; the entire hoard has been recovered.

The restoration and scientific evaluation of the Borsum hoard, one of the largest containing Roman coins in Lower Saxony, is being carried out at the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation. Based on current knowledge, the coins can be dated to the early Roman Empire, a time of coexistence, cohabitation, and conflict between the Romans and the Germanic tribes. However, a more precise dating of the hoard and an interpretation of its deposition will only be possible after the coins and other finds have been restored and scientifically evaluated. Only then will it be possible to assess where the artifacts came from and why they were buried here. Were they Romans or Germanic tribes?