Chapter 91: The Cursed Lead Plate

Early the next morning, Liang En and Fan Meng appeared in a small valley on the outskirts of the city. While Liang En had gone to Bath University for academic exchange the previous day, Fan Meng had obtained permission from the municipal government as instructed by Liang En.

With this permission in hand, Liang En and his team were now able to engage in treasure-hunting activities on non-private wastelands just beyond the city.

"How did you deduce the presence of ruins from this place?" As soon as they got out of the car, Fan Meng looked at the valley in front of him, which appeared much like the surrounding terrain, and turned to ask, "To me, it doesn't seem much different from those mounds around."

"I can't be certain about the existence of ruins here," Liang En shrugged and said, "But based on the information I gathered earlier, the possibility of ancient ruins being here is not negligible."

In the Viking-era map Liang En had obtained, this valley was considered a crucial navigational point. It held remnants from even earlier times, which could aid the Vikings in finding the right path through the hilly terrain.

However, over a thousand years had passed since the Viking era, and most of those ancient remnants had vanished, leaving only a patch of withered grass in their place.

This was precisely why Fan Meng found it intriguing. After all, there was no trace of human intervention in the entire area now, making it hard to imagine anything significant being buried here.

"Let's get to work." Liang En retrieved two metal detectors from the back of a small truck and handed one to Fan Meng. He then proceeded to walk towards the center of the basin.

Once in the center of the basin, Liang En and Fan Meng stood back-to-back and began rotating clockwise, carefully sweeping their metal detectors over the ground beneath them.

After about five or six cautious minutes, Fan Meng's metal detector emitted a rapid buzz. He stood still and used the metal detector to trace a circular pattern, attempting to pinpoint the exact location of the buried object.

"A promising sign." Upon hearing the noise from Fan Meng's side, Liang En took out a small flag from his pocket and planted it where he was standing. Holding his metal detector, he walked over to Fan Meng.

Subsequently, Liang En and Fan Meng used their metal detectors to scan the withered grass leaves. Unexpectedly, they found that there were more metal reactions in the area than just the initial location.

With each confirmed metal reaction, Liang En and Fan Meng expanded their search area. Finally, after more than ten minutes, they determined the approximate extent of the metal-reactive soil.

After completing the detection process, they set aside the metal detectors they had used and took out shovels. They marked out a circle on the ground to outline the digging area and then began carefully excavating the withered grassy land.

It's worth noting that metal detectors played an irreplaceable role in this kind of wilderness excavation. After all, in that era, metals were valuable and not casually discarded like modern cans, bottle caps, nails, or pieces of iron.

Hence, once they used the metal detectors to outline a rough area underground where the metal reactions occurred, the subsequent digging work could more accurately define the general area.

The items they were looking for weren't buried too shallow, and given their concerns about potentially damaging any antiques buried there, it wasn't until half an hour later that they uncovered some man-made artifacts at a depth of nearly 1 meter.

"This isn't metal, but it's obviously a man-made object." Looking at an object similar to a chopstick emerging from the bottom of the pit, Liang En let out a sigh of relief, then proceeded to carefully remove the surrounding soil.

Soon, a small statue emerged from the other end of the bone tag. It depicted a woman holding a small basin filled with various treasures in one hand, and a steering oar in the other.

"This is a bone hairpin from the Roman era, featuring a statue of the goddess of wealth." After cleaning the entire object, Liang En quickly identified what it was.

As the excavation continued, more objects appeared before Liang En and his team. However, contrary to their expectations, the metal detector reactions were not caused by precious metal artifacts, but rather by pieces of lead and tin.

These lead and tin pieces were all thin, coiled into tight rolls, and some even had iron nails affixed to them. Due to the passage of time, these items had turned into unassuming lumps of metal.

"I think I've seen this before." After unearthing seven or eight of these metal lumps from the pit, Fan Meng suddenly spoke up, "I think I came across something similar in a travel guide about Bath yesterday."

"I remember now." After a brief pause, Fan Meng snapped his fingers. "This seems to be called a cursed lead plate. It's something that the ancient Romans would toss into a pool to pray for divine curses upon their enemies."

"In other words, this is most likely from a pool or well of ancient Romans." As a professional, Liang En inferred what it was after hearing Fan Meng's explanation.

"No, wait. This can't be a well." Soon, Liang En refuted his previous speculation. "If it were a well, these items wouldn't be buried so shallow, and the distribution area wouldn't be this extensive."

Since almost all the metal reactions were concentrated within a circular area with a diameter of about seven meters, and considering the burial depth ranged from 50 to 80 cm, by nightfall, they had managed to excavate all the metal items.

"33 rolled lead plates, a bone hairpin, 17 copper coins, and 3 silver coins." Looking at the loot spread out on a plastic sheet, Liang En's face broke into a smile. "Of course, that's not the most important thing."

Saying that, Liang En shifted his gaze towards the uneven and pitted land behind them. A hole with a diameter of 1.5 meters appeared at the edge of the circular range they had outlined earlier. At the bottom of the hole was a bas-relief of a person's face with an open mouth.

"What we've found is likely a pool from ancient times." After taking a brief break, Liang En approached the edge of the large pit and looked down at the stone carving. "The stone carving down there is likely the outlet of the pool."

"I know about this." Fan Meng pointed at the stone carving of the face. "When I was wandering around Bath's city area yesterday, I saw several very old fountains with similar features. Were the ancient Romans particularly fond of these face carvings?"

"To be more precise, the entire Europe appreciates this type of relief design. So, from ancient Greek times up to the Renaissance and even today, these face carvings have remained popular, often used for decorative purposes in water engineering projects." Liang En explained to his friend.

"If I'm not mistaken, this place likely started as a natural spring, which the ancient Romans later turned into a pool. It would have been used to provide water for travelers or livestock passing by."

"Ah, I see." Fan Meng nodded earnestly and then asked, "But I feel like we might not make much money from this find. After all, these items don't seem to be worth much, do they?"

"That depends on the buyer." Liang En chuckled and said to Fan Meng, "Let's work one more day tomorrow, and then you'll see how I manage to fetch a good price for these items."