SOCHI, May 19./TASS/. Archeologists have found a hoard of 17th century Spanish coins at the site where the momentous bridge is being built between the Crimean Peninsula and mainland Russia, the Krymsky Most (Crimean Bridge) information center said on Wednesday.

"Researchers have found a hoard of silver coins hidden in a ceramic pot a total of fifteen pieces weighing more than 300 altogether on the outskirts of an olden township," the center said. "It is believed that the coins were made at mints in Spain in the 17th century."

At the moments, researchers are doing simultaneous archeological excavations at a number of sites located along the almost 40 km-long route of the bridge. They say the rare find may arouse the interest of coin collectors and historians.

"It's important to understand how these coins ended up on the Taman Peninsula (a peninsula in the southwest of Russia'a Krasnodar territory TASS)," said Dr. Emma Zivilinskaya, the leading researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology reporting to the Russian Academy of Sciences. "Quite possibly, this is a part of treasures looted from a galleon and a reminder of vibrant trade that was conducted here in the past."

Previous finds at the sites located along the route of the bridge included labor tools, household appliances and adornments. On the Taman Peninsula alone, the archeologists have examined the land areas totaling 19 hectares occupied once in the past by ancient settlements and burial mounds.

The list of their finds included the remainders of a Roman villa, a Khazar village, a military camp dating back to the times of Tmutarakan principality, which was a constituent part of the early medieval Duchy of Kievan Rus, the villages of epoch when the area was under the Ottoman sway and more than 150 burials of various periods.

In the meantime, research at the so-called ceramic field a cluster of fragments of ceramic vessels dated dated to a broad chronological period of the 5th century BC to the 6th century AD is in full swing closer to the Crimean coast of the Kerch Strait, across which the Russian authorities are building the bridge.

Hundreds of finds recovered from the seabed to date have been handed to the History and Archeology Museum in the city of Kerch.