Coins from the Hoxne hoard
Roman Britain, buried in the 5th century
AD
Found in Hoxne, Suffolk
(1992)
Money from the richest find of treasure from
Roman Britain
This celebrated treasure was unearthed in 1992.
It contained many types of precious objects, buried for safety at a
time when Britain was passing out of Roman control. Jewellery and a
variety of precious tableware and even silver toothpicks were found
alongside the approximately 15,000 gold, silver and bronze
coins.
The find was a
complete accident, since the finder was actually looking for his
friend's hammer! Archaeologists were called in to excavate
the find, and this was done so carefully that they could record the
way the objects were packed inside their wooden box (which had long
since rotted away). Even some fragments of textile and decorative
bone were found - it is amazing to think that they could have
survived more than 1,500
years.
565 of the coins are
gold solidi, but the
majority (14,191) are silver, of a variety of denominations, but
99% are siliquae - the
main silver piece of the Late Roman Empire. The
siliquae of fifteen
different emperors are represented, from Constantine II (reigned AD
337-40) to Constantine III (reigned AD 407-8). Constantine III was
in fact a usurper, proclaimed emperor by the soldiers in Britain.
He left the island to challenge the official emperors, and Roman
authority in Britain quickly broke down. The hoard must have been
buried for safekeeping sometime after AD 407, during difficult
times for the Romano-British, who were left without any help from
the Empire to defend themselves from the attacks of the barbarians.
However, we will never know the exact reasons for the
burial.
Twenty-four of the
coins were bronze nummi
and one might imagine this as small change from the
hoarder's purse, thrown in as an afterthought just before
he buried the treasure chest, never to return.
R. Bland and C.M. Johns, The Hoxne Treasure, an illustr (London, The British Museum Press, 1993)
C.M. Johns and R. Bland, 'The Hoxne late Roman treasure', Britannia, 25 (1994), pp. 165-73
R.A. Abdy, Romano-British coin hoards (Princes Risborough, Shire Publications, 2002)