US professor hoping to learn more about coin hoard

Dr Stahl travelled from Princeton University in the US to learn more about the coins

A professor from the US has visited Jersey to find out more about a coin hoard discovered in the island 12 years ago.

Dr Alan Stahl travelled from Princeton University in New Jersey to learn more about the ancient collection.

The hoard was found in 2012 in a field in the parish of Grouville by Reg Mead and Richard Miles.

Dr Stahl said there were still a lot of questions about the coins which needed to be answered.

"The thing that strikes me most is of course the sheer mass of coin," he told BBC Radio Jersey.

'Extraordinary'

"We don't usually, on the continent where I work, get 60,000 coins in a hoard.

"It's extraordinary."

He also said he was intrigued about how it got to the island about 2,000 years ago.

Highlands College has earmarked £250,000 to study archeology, history and metal detecting

"The more we learn about what was going on in Jersey in the period and what's now Brittany or Morica, the better we'll understand the hoard," he added.

Since the hoard was discovered 12 years ago, £250,000 has been earmarked for education to study archaeology, history and metal detecting at Highlands College.

Reg Mead, co-finder of the hoard, said he hoped the investment in education "will open doors for people".

"We've got [students] talking about the hoard, talking about archaeology, talking about conservation, recording," he said.

"I got to take a group of them into a field, metal detecting and we'll have archaeologists there to teach them how to metal detect but what to do when [they] find an object.

"It's part of their education and hopefully we'll open a few more doors for people to follow a hobby which everybody seems to love."