File:Roman coin hoard (FindID 416845).jpg

English: The first batch of the coins in question was discovered in November 2010. They were recovered by the finder over an area approximately two feet square at a depth of about 9 to 12 inches. The discovery was reported to the local Finds Liaison Officer (Rachel Atherton) in December 2010. After some initial work at the site by Rachel Atherton and a colleague from the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Charlotte Burrill, the site was excavated by the Derbyshire Archaeological Society (under the direction of Sue Ebbins and Alan Palfreyman). This work was carried out over several seasons from 2010 to 2012.

The excavations, which are still on-going, revealed a Roman building, with the main phase of occupation of its north end dated from the third to fourth century from the pottery assemblage. A Geophysical survey has revealed a further structure to the south which may be of an earlier second century phase.<a title="" href="http://js/fckeditor/#_ftn1">[1]</a>. The coins were found spread across the floor area of the building with a few mixed into the destruction layer above it. They were initially thought to have been clustered in discrete groups but as a wider area was excavated this revealed that they were in fact all part of the same spread.

The coins were brought to the museum in several batches, the first received in December 2010, further groups received in March and April 2011 and a final group deposited in May 2012. The preparation of this report was delayed until it was certain that all the coins had been received.

Description of the find

All 3631 coins are of the third century denomination known as a radiate (from the spiked crown worn by the emperor on the coin). The majority of the coins are of a type commonly referred to as a 'barbarous' radiate. This denotes a coin of local production rather than an official imperial issue. They are crude copies that were not intended to pass as convincing forgeries, being of a much smaller size and lower weight (c. 0.3g on average). They probably functioned as currency to fill a gap in the official coin supply in Britain during the unstable late third century AD.

The designs range from recognisable copies of standard types to the schematic and often abstract. They tend to copy types dating from the mid to late third century AD (c. 260 to 280) but their exact period of production is not known (the types may have had a long circulation). The latest datable prototype for this group of barbarous radiates is from the reign of the emperor Probus (AD 276-282) (two coins were found inscribed with his name), suggesting that the group dates to the late third century AD or later.

Amongst the group were four official-issue radiates from the emperors listed below:

Postumus (AD 260-9) 1 fragment (Normanby<a title="" href="http://js/fckeditor/#_ftn2">[2]</a> type 1341/4)

Victorinus (AD 269-71) 1 (Normanby type 1412)

Tetricus I (AD 271-4) 2 (Normanby type 1506 and another fragment)

There were also four standard sized ancient forgeries of the emperors Tetricus I and Tetricus II and a small number of medium-sized barbarous copies of coins of recognisable emperors (Claudius II, Gallienus, Victorinus and Probus). The majority were however the very small barbarous copies described above.

Related finds

A second group of coins brought to the museum with the main find consisted of an earlier (second century) denomination (known as the sestertius, plural sestertii). Six coins of this type were found by metal detection in an area that had not yet been excavated. Three further coins (from the reign of Hadrian, AD 117-138) were uncovered by subsequent excavation in this area, under the wall of the Roman building, but their archaeological relationship to the six metal-detected coins is unclear. Sestertii are known to have been recycled and used as the source of metal for the production of barbarous radiates<a title="" href="http://js/fckeditor/#_ftn3">[3]</a> but there is no conclusive evidence for such activity at the site and so this must remain one possible explanation for their presence at the site (the other being that they derive from a phase of second century occupation at the site). As such, they are not considered to be associated with the hoard of barbarous radiates, but if more are found at a later date they might be considered as a hoard in their own right and these subsequent finds would count as Treasure. They have been recorded for the PAS database.

Other artefacts from the site will be published by the excavators. Pottery was recovered from the occupation layers but there is no specific evidence for a container for the hoard.

Metal content

By the AD 260s the radiate had become debased to the point of being essentially bronze (c.1% silver). The barbarous radiates are also base metal (copper alloy).

Of the same find?

The fact that the coins were found spread in the same level on the floor of the same room of the Roman building suggests that it is a dispersed hoard (possibly originally in a container disturbed during destruction of the building or placed in the room once it had gone out of use). Such a quantity of coins would not be expected to be recovered from a Roman building as a result of casual loss (excavated villa assemblages tend to number into the hundreds at most, and represent a range of chronological periods). These coins are copies of types one would expect to find circulating together in the AD 280s and thus probably are of that date or slightly later.

Conclusion

On the balance of probabilities, therefore, I conclude that these coins belong together as a hoard and constitute a prima facie case of treasure by being bronze coins of an antiquity greater than 300 years and are of one find of more than ten pieces.

Dr. Eleanor Ghey

Department of Coins and Medals

British Museum

29^th October 2012

<a title="" href="http://js/fckeditor/#_ftnref1">[1]</a> S. Ebbins pers. comm.

<a title="" href="http://js/fckeditor/#_ftnref2">[2]</a> R. Bland and A. Burnett 1988, 'Normanby, Lincs.' in Coin Hoards from Roman Britain VIII, pp.114-215.

<a title="" href="http://js/fckeditor/#_ftnref3">[3]</a> M. Ponting 2005, 'Unofficial Coin Production in Roman Britain', English Heritage Centre for Archaeology Report 15/2005; see also R. Abdy 2003, 'Worn Sestertii in Roman Britain and the Longhorsley hoard', Numismatic Chronicle 163, pp.137-46.