Story highlights 19 amphoras full of coins unearthed 
 
 They date from the end of the 3rd century A.D. to early 4th century A.D. 
 
 Workers digging ditches came across the treasure trove 
 
 (CNN) More than 1,300 pounds (590kg) of bronze Roman coins dating to the 3rd century A.D. have been unearthed by construction workers digging a trench in Spain. 
 
 The coins were found in 19 amphoras, a type of Roman jug, in Tomares, a town in Seville province. 
 
 Lola Vallejo, Tomares urban councillor, told CNN-affiliate Atlas that a crew had been digging a ditch to install electricity to a park when they came across the incredible find. 
 
 "The machines hit against something that wasn't normal for this soil," Vallejo said. "The workers immediately stopped, and soon discovered that there were many coins there, inside broken amphoras." 
 
 Primeras imágenes del hallazgo de monedas romanas de Tomares en el #MuseoArqueologico de Sevilla pic.twitter.com/5aK5fovNjj — Consejería Cultura (@CulturaAND) April 28, 2016 ||||| This photo made available by the City Council of Tomares on Friday, April 29, 2016, shows some of the bronze and silver-coated coins dating from the end of the 4th century Workers laying pipes in a southern... (Associated Press) 
 
 MADRID (AP) — Workers laying pipes in a southern Spanish park have unearthed a 600-kilogram (1,300-pound) trove of Roman coins in what culture officials say is a unique historic discovery. 
 
 The Seville Archaeological Museum said the construction workers came across 19 amphoras containing thousands of unused bronze and silver-coated coins dating from the end of the fourth century. 
 
 The coins are believed to have been recently minted at the time and had probably been stored to pay soldiers or civil servants. 
 
 Museum director Ana Navarro said the discovery Wednesday in the southern town of Tomares outside Seville is unique for Spain and of incalculable value. 
 
 She told reporters the museum had contacted counterparts in Britain, France and Italy and that the find appeared to be one of the most important from the period. 
 
 The regional cultural department said Friday construction work in the park had been halted while archeologists investigate further. 
 
 The clay pots, 10 of which were said to be intact, were found just over a meter (yard) underground. 
 
 Navarro said the coins studied so far bear images of emperors Constantine and Maximian and with a variety of pictorial images on the reverse. 
 
 The cultural department said the museum had no similar coins in its collection. Once the find has been fully investigated the pieces will be put on display in the museum, the department said. 
 
 The Romans began to conquer Spain in 218 B.C. and ruled until the fifth century. 
 
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 An earlier version of this story was corrected to show museum director's surname is Navarro. ||||| Workers laying pipes in a southern Spanish park unearthed a 1,300-pound trove of Roman coins. Cultural officials say it is a unique historic discovery. (The Washington Post) 
 
 Some 1,300 pounds of bronze Roman coins dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries have been unearthed by construction workers digging ditches in Spain. 
 
 The find, in 19 amphoras — storage containers — is unique not only because of the volume of coins but because the coins appear to have never been in circulation, making them almost pristine by comparison with other discoveries. 
 
 Workers in the city of Tomares, in Andalusia, were working on installing a water line to a park in the city of 24,000, according to the Spanish newspaper El País, when they noticed irregular terrain inside a ditch about a meter below ground level. 
 
 Some of the containers were broken, with the coins spilling out of them, while others were intact. They show an emperor, Maximian or Constantine on one side and Roman allegories on the other, researchers told reporters. Experts are speculating that the coins were meant to pay taxes or support legions of the Roman armies in Spain at the time. 
 
 “We have a team looking into the discovery right now. We believe it is hugely important and will have more information very soon,” a spokesman at Andalusia’s Ministry of Culture in Seville told The Local on Thursday. 
 
 Ana Navarro, head of Seville’s Archeology Museum, offered no precise estimate for the value of the haul, saying only that the coins were worth “certainly several million euros.” 
 
 
 
 This photo made available by the City Council of Tomares on Friday, April 29, 2016, shows some of the bronze and silver-coated coins dating from the end of the 4th century. (City Council of Tomares via AP) 
 
 “The majority were newly minted and some of them probably were bathed in silver, not just bronze,” Navarro told reporters. 
 
 “I could not give you an economic value, because the value they really have is historical and you can’t calculate that.” 
 
 The Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 206 B.C. and stayed for about 700 years, turning Andalusia into one of the empire’s richest colonies. 
 
 Primeras imágenes del hallazgo de monedas romanas de Tomares en el #MuseoArqueologico de Sevilla pic.twitter.com/5aK5fovNjj — Consejería Cultura (@CulturaAND) April 28, 2016 ||||| Construction workers repairing water pipes in Seville, southern Spain, have discovered 600kg of ancient Roman coins, covered with dirt and dust. The find is said to be worth at least “several million euros.” 
 
 Tens of thousands of bronze coins, dating back to the third and fourth centuries, were found inside 19 Roman amphoras in the town of Tomares near Seville, El Pais reported. 
 
 "This find is extremely important,” Ana Navarro, head of Seville’s Archeology Museum now looking after the find, told El Pais. “It is a unique collection, and there are very few similar cases,” she added. 
 
 The discovery of the jars full of coins happened on Wednesday during construction work about 10 kilometers from Seville. 
 
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 "Those are not amphoras meant to store wine or oil. They are smaller and were used to transport other goods. Surprisingly [they were] used to save money," Navarro told the newspaper. 
 
 AFP quoted Navarro as saying the coins, stamped with inscriptions of Emperors Maximian and Constantine on the reverse side, are worth “several million euros.” 
 
 “I could not give you an monetary value, because the value they really have is historical and you can’t calculate that.” 
 
 Although most coins are bronze, archaeologists say some appear to be silver-plated. "Most show little evidence of wear, which means they were not in circulation," Navarro explained. 
 
 "It is surprising to have found 19 jars filled with coins. Out hypothesis is that the money was used to pay imperial taxes or paying the army,” Navarro told the newspaper, adding that the amphoras were probably hidden “because of social conflicts, violence [and other] threats.” 
 
 Local authorities have suspended work on the water pipes to carry out archaeological excavations at the site. 
 
 
 
 In July last year, Florida treasure hunters found a trove of $4.5 million worth of Spanish gold coins 300 years to the day after a fleet of ships heading from Havana to Spain sank in a hurricane.
– What should've been a simple maintenance project involving new water pipes in Spain has become something else entirely. Construction workers near Seville Wednesday stumbled upon about 1,300 pounds of bronze Roman coins from the third and fourth centuries crammed into 19 ancient amphoras, the AFP reports. The Washington Post reports that the workers noticed "irregular terrain" while toiling in a ditch a little more than 3 feet deep. Ana Navarro, head of the local museum that's now taken over the excavation project, didn't pin an exact number on the coins' value, simply stating they're worth "certainly several million euros" (which would equate to several million dollars) and that it's hard for her to assign a dollar amount because "the value they really have is historical and you can't calculate that." Navarro tells a local paper that "this find is extremely important," with "very few similar cases," per RT.com. The coins features images of emperors Constantine and Maximian, and their mint condition indicates they likely weren't in circulation. Navarro speculates the money was used to pay government taxes or the armed forces, and that the amphoras were buried "because of social conflicts, violence, [and other] threats" of the time. Navarro also notes that because the coin-filled containers are so heavy, it's probable they weren't placed underground by one person alone, CNN reports. The country's cultural department says no such coins exist in the Seville Archaeological Museum's collection, per the AP. (Another recent find involved coins hailing from the Nazi era.)