One of the largest known hoards of late Iron Age gold staters
A total of 825 gold coins of the Iron Age period
have been found in a field in south-east Suffolk, near to Wickham
Market.
Most of the coins were found by a metal detector
user around Easter 2008 and were promptly reported by the landowner
to Suffolk County Council’s Archaeological Service who passed on
the details to the Coroner, as required under the Treasure Act
1996. The base of a pot was also found with the coins.
The coins were taken to the British Museum
(Department of Coins & Medals) for study to prepare a report
for the Coroner. The Coroner held an inquest on 3rd July 2009 and
declared the finds are “treasure” under the Act. They are now to be
valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee which provides
independent advice so that any museum wishing to acquire the hoard
can raise the appropriate reward for the finder and
landowner.
In October 2008 the Archaeological Service, with
financial support from the British Museum, carried out a small
excavation on the findspot to see whether there was any evidence
about why such a large pot of money had been hidden here and to
recover any stray coins from the hoard.
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An Icenian stater (Freckenham
type) |
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One of the two Corieltauvian
staters (a South Ferriby type) |
The coins are almost all of types produced by the tribe of the
Iceni who lived in Norfolk, much of Suffolk and part of
Cambridgeshire during the century before the Roman conquest in
AD43. The two exceptions were minted by the Corieltauvi, the tribe
to the area north-west of the Iceni in Lincolnshire and the east
Midlands. All of these coins have no writing on them. There are
various designs on one side and always a horse on the other. They
were probably buried in the early years of the first century, about
25 years before the Romans arrived. Unfortunately only the bottom
half of the pot in which the coins were buried has survived,
because it was smashed by cultivation of the field. However this is
enough to identify it as a jar that was thrown on a wheel, which is
unusual in an Icenian tribal context. At this date the use of the
wheel for pottery manufacture had only recently been introduced to
Britain and it is usually associated with the tribes of the
Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni who lived to the south of the
Iceni. The pot with the coins was buried in a small hole next to a
ditch that was probably open at the time as it contained pieces of
contemporary pottery. This ditch may well be part of the enclosure
around a farmstead or other building. Later on, in the first or
second century, another ditch was cut on a slightly different
alignment, showing that activity continued here into the Roman
period.
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Plan of the excavated features at the hoard findspot |
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Recording the ditches excavated at the hoard findspot in
October 2008 |
It is hoped that it will be possible to do further work,
particularly a Geophysics survey to see the layout of the ditches
on a broader scale and any evidence for buildings.
We cannot precisely estimate the value of 800
gold coins in the early 1st century but each may have
been very approximately equivalent to £1000. Only a few hoards of
similar Icenian gold coins have been found. One of the best known
was a pot with about 90 coins found in a garden in Freckenham in
Suffolk in 1885. As stray losses we have recorded an average of 4
Iron Age gold coins a year from Suffolk under the Portable
Antiquities Scheme.
We can only speculate as to why so much money was
buried and not retrieved almost 2,000 years ago. It might relate to
warfare between the Iceni and the Trinovantes, as it is certainly
on the southern edge of the Icenian area. Or it might have been a
substantial offering to the gods at a temple in an intermediate
area between the tribes, where religious practice made trade
contacts possible.
For further information contact:
Jude Plouviez
Archaeological Service
9-10 Churchyard
Shire Hall
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP33 2AR
Telephone: 01284 352448
Email:
jude.plouviez@suffolk.gov.uk