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Asterix and Obelix, had they existed, might have paid for their mead and other magic potions with gold-silver-copper coins stamped with elaborate images of men and horses.
The largest treasure trove of pre-Roman, Gaulish money ever to be found has been discovered in central Brittany.
The 545 coins - each worth thousands of euros to collectors - could overturn much of the received wisdom about the complexity, and wealth, of pre-Roman Celtic society in France.
It has always been assumed that the Celtic nobility lived in fortified towns, not in the dangerous countryside.
Like all Gaulish coins, the 58 "stateres" and 487 quarter "stateres" found near the village of Laniscat are copies of early Greek money.
Gauls served as mercenaries in the armies of Alexander the Great. The money they brought home served as the model for home-minted coins.
Some of the coins, rescued from the site of a proposed dual-carriageway, have the familiar Celtic monetary pattern of a horse on one side and a man's head on the reverse. Others have hitherto unknown designs, such as horses with human heads.
Smaller caches of Gaulish coins have turned up in the past but rarely of such quality and never in such numbers.
Most transactions for goods in Gaulish times were conducted through barter. Coins were for the super-rich.
"This is an exceptional discovery," said archaeologist Yves Menez. "It represents a colossal fortune for the period. Each of these coins was like a €500 ($950) note today."
The coins were discovered by the French government agency, the Institut National de Recherches Archeologiques Preventives, which has the right to explore any potentially significant site before a road or new building covers it forever. The coins are believed to have been minted between 75 and 5BC.
- INDEPENDENT
