Steptoe canyon on the Snake River in Washington has been the site of Roman discoveries since the 1890s.  There have been a number of coins and a small but complete vase found by different people over the years.   In the 1970s,  background research demonstrated that this canyon had been the line of retreat for the army's ill-fated Steptoe expedition against the Indians in 1855.   One of the officers in that expedition was an Italian.  The record stated that he had been shot at the top of the canyon and his horse dragged the body all the way down to the river.  It is not hard to image these things falling out of a saddle bag.   

Things can end up in unusual places by accident.  Without the field notes, one object can not be significant - no matter what the claims about its context

Tim Riordan