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The Hoxne Hoard
Roman Britain, buried in the 5th century
AD
Found at Hoxne, Suffolk in 1992
The Hoxne (pronounced 'Hoxon') hoard consists of over 15,000
gold and silver coins, gold jewellery and numerous small items of
silver tableware, including pepper pots, ladles and spoons. Also
found were traces of a large wooden chest and smaller caskets with
tiny silver padlocks, into which the treasure had been carefully
secreted. It was discovered in November 1992 by Eric Lawes, who
immediately reported the find and did not remove all the objects
from the ground. This responsible conduct enabled the Suffolk
Archaeological Unit to carry out a controlled excavation of the
deposit, which has greatly enhanced the importance of the Hoxne
Treasure for research in the future.
The silver objects are all quite small: the bulk of these are
around 100 spoons and ladles. This extensive collection of
silverware would almost certainly have also included larger table
vessels, like those in the Mildenhall treasure, but we do not know
what happened to them. A silver handle in the form of a tigress,
apparently deliberately detached from a tall vase, indicates the
existence of at least one such larger vessel for the table. The
unusual selection of jewellery comprises a body-chain, a small
group of necklaces, three finger-rings and 19 bracelets.
The latest of the coin issues in the hoard establishes that its
burial took place some time after AD 407/8. This was the period
when Roman rule was breaking down in Britain, and the Hoxne hoard
might be related to these events. The careful burial of this
treasure probably means that the owner intended to come back and
recover it later, but for whatever reason was unable to do so.
From the collection of the British Museum
Richard Hobbs, Treasure: Finding our past (London, The British Museum Press, 2003)
R. Bland and C.M. Johns, The Hoxne Treasure, an illustr (London, The British Museum Press, 1993)