A hungry badger has discovered the largest ever collection of Roman coins in Spanish history will digging for food.
The treasure was found close to the den of the animal in Grado, Asturias, North West Spain.
The burrowing mammal is thought to have uncovered the coins while it desperately search for food last winter.
Heavy snowfall from Storm Filomena also sent temperatures plunging to -10C.
Coastal regions were under red alerts as up to 20 centimetres of snow fell in some areas over 24 hours.
In a desperate attempt to find food, it is believed the badger put its legs into a small crack opening next to its den.
When it found no use for the gold coins a few pieces were then abandoned in front of the den.
Two archaeologists then found the 209 coins while visiting the cave of La Cuesta with a local, according to a recently published report in an archaeological journal.
This "exceptional find" of rough coins is believed to be sated from between the 3rd and 5h centuries AD.
It is thought the coins were forged in places as far away as Constantinople, which is present-day Istanbul, Turkey, and Thessaloniki, Greece, according to one of the researchers who spoke to El País.
The researchers added it is the largest trove of Roman coins found in a cave in Northern Spain to date.
In the 1930s in the dense woodlands of Grado, 14 gold coins were found in the area.
They were said to have dated back to the reign of Constantine I, a Roman emperor who reigned from 306 to 337 AD.
In September, Two amateur free divers found more than 50 Roman coins off the East coast of Spain, CNN reported.
Scientists dated them to be between the end of the 4th century AD and the beginning of the 5th.
The current research project is in its first stage as there are hopes to do more excavating in the future.
