A hungry badger is to thank for archaeologists discovering more than 200 Roman-era coins in a cave in northwestern Spain. The artifacts were first found in April last year. Roberto García came across the treasure near the animal's nest and notified a team of archaeologists, according to a paper published last month in Autonomous University's Journal of Prehistory and Archaeology. "We were shocked to find 90 coins just in the floor outside a nest of a badger," the dig director Alfonso Fanjul told USA TODAY. "We didn't know how many could be underground or even if we could find more valuable objects." In total, the scientists found 209 coins from the late Roman period – some dating as far back as 400 A.D. – that were likely dug up by the badger when foraging for food during a rare snowstorm last January. Fanjul believes there could be more coins in the cave. The discovery is the largest Roman treasure trove recovered from inside a cave in Spain to date, according to Fanjul. He also told CNN that he believes that the coins were hidden by refugees who sheltered in the area during the late Roman period. The coins are now being cleaned and will be displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Asturias in Oviedo, Spain.