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Tens of Thousands of Ancient Coins Found Off Sardinia

A picture made available by the Italian Culture Minister showing some of the discovered ancient bronze coins. (Italian Culture Ministry Via AP)
A picture made available by the Italian Culture Minister showing some of the discovered ancient bronze coins. (Italian Culture Ministry Via AP)
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Tens of Thousands of Ancient Coins Found Off Sardinia

A picture made available by the Italian Culture Minister showing some of the discovered ancient bronze coins. (Italian Culture Ministry Via AP)
A picture made available by the Italian Culture Minister showing some of the discovered ancient bronze coins. (Italian Culture Ministry Via AP)

A diver who spotted something metallic not far from Sardinia's coast has led to the discovery of tens of thousands of ancient bronze coins.
Italy’s culture ministry said Saturday that the diver alerted authorities, who sent divers assigned to an art protection squad along with others from the ministry’s undersea archaeology department.
The coins dating from the first half of the fourth century were found in sea grass, not far from the northeast shore of the Mediterranean island. The ministry didn't say exactly when the first diver caught a glimpse of something metallic just off shore Sardinia, not far from the town of Arzachena, The Associated Press reported.
Exactly how many coins have been retrieved hasn’t been determined yet, as they are being sorted. A ministry statement estimated that there are at least about 30,000 and possibly as many as 50,000, given their collective weight.
“All the coins were in an excellent and rare state of preservation,” the ministry said. The few coins that were damaged still had legible inscriptions, it said.
“The treasure found in the waters off Arzachena represent one of the most important coin discoveries," in recent years, said Luigi La Rocca, a Sardinian archaeology department official.
La Rocca added in a statement that the find is “further evidence of the richness and importance of the archaeological heritage that the seabed of our seas, crossed by men and goods from the most ancient of epochs, still keep and preserve.”
Firefighter divers and border police divers were also involved in locating and retrieving the coins.

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In Belarus, the Native Language is Vanishing as Russian Takes Prominence

FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
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In Belarus, the Native Language is Vanishing as Russian Takes Prominence

FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)

When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent.

What's more, classes at his school — one of the country's best — are now taught in Russian, not Belarusian, which he has spoken for most of his life.

Belarusians like Mikalay are experiencing a new wave of Russification as Moscow expands its economic, political and cultural dominance.

Russia under the czars and in the era of the Soviet Union imposed its language, symbols and cultural institutions on Belarus. But with the demise of the USSR in 1991, the country began to assert its identity, and Belarusian briefly became the official language, with the white-red-white national flag replacing a version of the red hammer and sickle, according to The AP.

But all that changed in 1994, after Alexander Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm official, came to power. The authoritarian leader made Russian an official language, alongside Belarusian, and did away with the nationalist symbols.

Now, with Lukashenko in control of the country for over three decades, he has allowed Russia to dominate all aspects of life in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people. Belarusian, which like Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, is hardly heard on the streets of Minsk and other large cities anymore.

Official business is conducted in Russian, which dominates the majority of the media. Lukashenko speaks only Russian, and government officials often don't use their native tongue.

Belarus was part of the Russian empire for centuries and became one of 15 Soviet republics after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Daily use of the Belarusian language decreased and continued only in the country's west and north and in rural areas.

In 1994, about 40% of students were taught in Belarusian; it's now down to under 9%.

Although Belarusian, like Russian, is an eastern Slavic language, its vocabulary is considerably different.