Continuing our theme this week on Doncaster I've been tasked with looking into the coinage we know was used during the settlement's long history. I'm focusing my attention, not on random detecting finds from the plough soil, but on purposely buried caches of coins ...... hoards !!!
What do coin hoards tell us about Roman Britain ?
Hoards of valued materials, particularly coins, are a common discovery across the former Roman Empire. In the past, coin hoards have been mainly studied by numismatists as artefacts largely divorced from their archaeological context, under the guise of monetary, economic and political history.
With the increased use of metal detectors, around eighty hoards are added to the Portable Antiques Scheme every year. The number of recorded Roman coin hoards currently stands at around 2,700.
Most Roman coin hoards have been interpreted as having been buried at times of economic or political upheaval, with the intention of later recovery. It has also been suggested that in some instances their owners did not try to recover Roman hoards, as the coins had become difficult to exchange following monetary reform. Some may have been buried as part of ritualised votive practices and were never mean to be reclaimed. In truth, it is very difficult to lay a blanket over every hoard and attach a ‘reason’ for its burial and non-retrieval. I was asked to help identify a recent coin hoard, of approximately one thousand silver coins from near Doncaster, which mostly date to the Severan Period of 193 – 210 AD. The oldest coin was a Republican denarius from approximately 80 BC but the last coin minted was struck in 235 AD
So, there are a few questions
Why were 1,000 coins deposited in a pot and buried in the ground not far from the fort on the River Don known as Danum ?
Why does the hoard of coins span 315 years ?
What proportion of someone’s wealth does this represent ?
What do the coins tell us about life in the third Century?
The answer to the first question of why the coins were buried will probably never be answered fully. In truth, there are countless reasons. The owner may have been going on a trip, buried the coins for safe keeping, and never returned. The old favourite of the owner burying the coins in a time of troubles and something terrible happened. The coins may have been placed in the domestic grain pit and the owner died of natural causes without telling anyone where the stash was.1,000 denari just so happens to be the payment made to a retiring army veteran in lieu of the regulation plot of land. Could this have been a Serviceman's pension ? Imagination is the only limitation when searching for reasons.
As mentioned, the coins date from 80 BC to 235 AD. From the days of the Republic to the end of the Severan dynasty and the death of the Emperor Severus Alexander. One very worn Republican coin ( 80 BC ), two worn blank discs, a worn coin of Vittelus ( 69 AD ), a worn coin of Otho ( 69 AD ) and one of Vespasian ( 71 AD ). The historical timeline is maintained by coins of Domitian, Trajan, the Adoptive Emperors, through Clodius Albinus, Pertinax and onto Septimius Severus and his sons Caracalla and Geta. The majority of the hoard are made up of these latter three and their wives. The timeline continues to its end with coins of Macrinus, Elagabalus and Severus Alexander. With the exception of the oldest coins the majority of the coins look as if they were struck yesterday so had clearly not been in circulation for very long, if at all…… A virtually unbroken historical record.
It is, of course, impossible to say what this heap of silver meant to the owner in terms of wealth. Was it all that person had. Was it a loose change pot ? A saving scheme ? Had the economy collapsed so badly after 235 AD that the owner buried his silver hoping that one day it would be of some value again ? Can we draw any clues from how we have handled silver coins in the recent past? When George V reduced the silver content in his coins in 1920, people held onto the old coins in the hope that bullion prices would increase and make them valuable again. Of course that never happened but coins were kept in jars and drawers for years.
What does the hoard tell us about life in the third Century? A lot of information can be gleaned from the many hundreds of reverse designs showing deities, the Emperor being an Emperor, Victories against Rome’s enemies, accolades to the Army and prayers to the Gods. The hoard also tells us about the economy. As the coins become more recent they are thinner than earlier coins and contain less precious silver. No doubt their buying power in the market place reflected the debased coinage. In 235 AD the Empire went into meltdown, fell off a cliff due to political instability. In the eighty years from the death of Severus Alexander to the succession of Constantius I, who became Emperor in 305 AD, there were no fewer than 44 men who wore the purple. The Empire was rent from East to West by Usurpers and civil wars.
Like so many others, this hoard is an enigma. Thankfully, the finder did the right thing in reporting his good fortune and one day we may all benefit from seeing it displayed in all it’s glory.