SHE may only be eight - but even at that tender age Jessica Luke has become the envy of many a treasure hunter.

For she discovered part of Britain's ancient past that was literally lying at her feet.

Jessica, of Acomb, York, was climbing into a car in the Beckfield Lane area of the city when she spotted something on the ground nearby. She picked it up and took it home where her intrigued mother, Wendy, encouraged her to get the coin identified.

They took it along to Simon Holmes of the portable antiquities scheme at the Yorkshire Museum - and he promptly told them the coin was almost 2,000 years old.

He said the coin dated from the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius (AD41 to 54) and would have been made around AD50.

"This kind of coin was one of the first Roman coins to be made in Britain," he said. "Around AD50 there was a shortage of small change in Britain, so the emperor and the senate allowed the Roman soldiers to make their own, based on existing coins in circulation."

He added: "This coin is in very good condition for its age. It's not a rare coin, but it is certainly a rare find. It is rare for people to find this kind of coin in York.

"It took me about three years as an archaeologist excavating sites before I found my first Roman coin. Jessica should keep it to show her own children."

A delighted Jessica, a pupil at Carr Junior School, said: "I'm pleased now I have found out what it is. I'm glad we brought it in."

The copper alloy coin shows the head of Claudius on one side and Minerva, the Roman goddess of war, on the other.