Archaeologists have discovered a silver "real de a ocho" coin, a Spanish coin known as a "piece of eight" placed beside the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile as part of a ceremony carried out by colonists more than 400 years ago. The coin is a vital clue for archaeologists investigating a colonial settlement there, as it matches a surviving 1584 account of the Christian ceremony involving the coin. The find also helps validate an old map of the long-lost settlement. The discovery was made during archaeological excavations at the site of Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe, a doomed Spanish colony founded in 1584. Most of the colony's roughly 350 settlers died within a few years of the founding.