Archaeologists from Britain’s National Trust have unearthed a hoard of late Iron Age and Roman coins in Reynard’s Kitchen Cave in Dovedale, Derbyshire. The initial discovery of four coins was made by a local climber seeking shelter in the cave during a rainstorm. Archaeologists have since retrieved a total of 26 gold and silver coins, all of which predate the Roman invasion of Britain in a.d. 43. While the bulk of the hoard is attributed to the Iron Age Corieltavi tribe, at least three coins are of Roman origin—the first instance of coins from these two civilizations having been found buried together. The location of the hoard is also unexpected, explains National Trust archaeologist Rachael Hall. “Coin hoards of this era in Britain have been found in fields and other locations but, as far as we know, not in a cave,” she says. “We may never know why the coins were buried here, but this discovery adds a new layer to what we are learning about Late Iron Age activity.”

In the 1930s, a Swedish diplomat smuggled dozens of 2,000-year-old textiles out of Peru. Now the Swedish city of Gothenburg is returning the entire collection. The most spectacular example, known as the Shroud of Gothenburg, depicts a shaman flying through the air, animals as diverse as condors and shrimp, and crops such as corn, peanuts, and beans. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru archaeologist Krzysztof Makowski points out that figures on the edge of the piece seem to mark the 365 days of the solar year. “The decorations are our main source for decoding prehistoric Andean religious beliefs,” he says. “Textiles were the most technologically complex artifacts in Andean prehistory.”

The Domus Aurea, or “Golden House,” is one of the most important monuments in Rome, but it is also at great risk. Built by the emperor Nero between A.D. 58 and 64, the staggering property in the heart of imperial Rome might have sprawled across as many as 300 acres, though its true extent is difficult to judge. The main villa of the complex has more than 300 rooms, including an octagonal dining room with a revolving domed roof, walls inlaid with jewels and gold, ceilings covered in mosaics, and brightly colored frescoes on nearly every wall and vaulted ceiling. But for all its splendor, the Domus Aurea has been closed since 2005 for safety reasons—and a ceiling vault collapsed in 2010. Persistent problems with drainage and moisture threaten both its structural stability and its decorations. Recently, the archaeological superintendency of Rome embarked on the last phase of an ambitious restoration project. “We hope,” says superintendent Mariarosaira Barbera, “that the Domus Aurea can be visited again by 2018, and that it will last another 2,000 years.”