A rare Roman coin dating back to the fourth century AD has been unearthed in northwestern Russia, archaeologists say.

The copper coin was found on Friday at an excavation site in the Russian city of Veliky Novgorod located some 550 kilometres northwest of Moscow.

“The coin bears the image of a she-wolf with Romulus and Remus – the founders of Rome – on one side and the image of a Roman goddess on the other side,” said Oleg Oleynikov, head of the excavation expedition.

The find is dated to the time of the founder of Constantinople, Constantine I, at the beginning of the fourth century AD, said Oleynikov.

The coin is “the most ancient” of some 4000 artefacts that have so far been discovered in the city by a search organised by the Archaeology Institute of the Russian Academy of Science.

“This discovery is a new page in the history of ties between Constantinople and Russia of those times,” said Oleynikov.