17 February 2013

The Beau Street hoard


I've just discovered The British Museum blog, putting myself at risk of not getting any real work done for a month.
In November 2007, during a routine archaeological excavation in advance of building work in Beau Street, Bath (a stone’s throw from the famous Roman Baths themselves), archaeologists came upon what was clearly a very large number of coins contained within a cist (a stone-lined box). Upon further excavation, they quickly came to realise they were looking at one of the largest coin hoards found in the UK, representing quite a tumultuous time in Roman Britain – about AD 270.  In order to preserve its shape and context, the archaeologists cut around the hoard and lifted it in a soil block.
The initial report was posted in May of 2012.   Last week there was a followup, with some post-conservation photos and data.
We have been able to sort and count seven of the eight Roman money bags contained within the hoard – one is still undergoing conservation. The total so far is 14,646 coins, but as the final bag is large we expect this to go up to over 16,000 coins...

4 comments:

  1. That picture is more interesting than any number of Roman coins I've seen. Very cool!

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    1. And just think about the circumstances under which it happened. The fog of war, a furtive digging at night, death and destruction, a bit of disturbed earth that nobody notices...

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    2. From one of their explanatory articles, it seems like these were more likely stored in a place that was specifically designed to hide these coins.

      "Was this a secure store for bags of money that was added to gradually by one or more people over a fairly long period of time? It seems like an official store of money, organised into bags and purposely concealed in a place designed for that purpose."

      http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2012/05/25/the-beau-street-hoard-whats-in-the-box/

      This is a really interesting pile of coins as it falls in a perfect time period to show the debasement of the Roman Empire's monetary supply. Thanks for the link!

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  2. Blast - I was there just yesterday and didn't know to look for this exhibit.

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