THE BROADS HOARD

THE BROA D S EXCLUSIVE HOA R D A HOA RD OF ROM A N GOLD BEFORE THE ROM A N CONQUEST DR ADRIAN MARSDEN T he coins were recovered by Damon and Denise Pye (FIG 1) near Norwich (see The Searcher March 2018). The first coin was found in August 2017 and others have followed since then. There have been other finds from the field, over a hundred copper alloy Roman coins, predominantly larger issues from the first three centuries AD, two denarii, several Roman brooches and a debased Icenian quarter stater. Aerial photographs show a circular 1 cropmark in the area from which the coins were recovered; this may represent the remains of a Bronze Age barrow which would then have formed a feature in the landscape suitable for the deposition of a cache of coins. The impression formed is of a site that saw some use or occupation although probably mainly after the Roman Conquest. The coins were scattered over a relatively small area and there’s no doubt that they represent a dispersed hoard. All are aurei of the first Roman emperor Augustus (27BC- AD14) and all share an identical feature, a small peck mark always placed in front of the obverse portrait. To date, ten have been M recovered and no doubt more will surface any Roman coin hoards have been found in Norfolk over the over the years. The area has been intensely years. Some are of precious metal, some are not, some are large searched with different machines and so and some small. We’ll be looking at a number of these hoards as it’s probably unlikely that a receptacle this series continues; this time we will consider an unusual group of early containing many more lies buried beneath Imperial gold coins found at a field in the Norfolk Broads over the last few the plough soil. years (NMS-297275, NMS-0D30F3, NMS-ACE619 and NMS-B04606). The coins were all struck in the very last The late Iron Age is probably best known to detectorists for its years of the 1st century BC or the very first distinctive metalwork (FIG 2) but here we have the hoarding of foreign years of the 1st century AD. They are of coins by a native of Norfolk decades before the famous Boudican rebellion two types, one showing Augustus’ heir, his of AD60/61. grandson Caius Caesar, and the other Caius and his brother Lucius. The second type, represented by eight out of the ten pieces, 2 is well known and this image of the two standing princes was the only one used on gold and silver coins for several years. 20 THE SEARCHER MAY 2022  EXCLUSIVE 3 4 5 6 7 8 What were Roman aurei doing in pre- 9 10 Roman Norfolk? All were struck at the city of Lugdunum, Of course, things went sour after his death A hoard of these staters was discovered now Lyons, the only mint coining gold and the subsequent Boudiccan rebellion concealed in cow bone some years ago and silver in the final years of Augustus’ following which the Icenian kingdom at Sedgeford whilst single specimens turn reign. They carry very little wear and this, was placed under the direct government up regularly (NMS-A41829, FIG 4). together with the absence of any later of Rome. The Norfolk stater issues begin with coins, such as the abundant gold aurei of What were Roman aurei doing in pre- the so-called Norfolk Wolf types; those Augustus’ successor Tiberius, suggests that Roman Norfolk? Here we are best beginning with a right-facing wolf are usually of good they went into the ground fairly soon after to answer the question by looking at gold (NMS-066DC5, FIG 5 whilst the issue, probably in the first two decades of other finds of early Roman gold and silver commoner left-facing wolf types are often the 1st century AD. coins and at the contemporary Iron Age debased and their production seems to coinage of the Iceni. The two currency have gone on for many years longer (NMS- Historical background systems operated on very different weight 57A44C, FIG 6). Whether debased or not It’s time to look at what was happening in standards and on very different purity they don’t come near to the weight of a Norfolk at the time the hoard was buried. levels but both seem to have been current Roman gold aureus. The quarter staters also Assuming that the hoard does date to the in late Iron Age Norfolk. Roman Republican came to be struck in an alloy containing less first few years of the 1st century AD then silver denarii are encountered as stray finds gold and this can be seen by their lighter, we’re dealing with a time a generation quite frequently such as an issue of the slightly washed-out colour as in an example before the Roman invasion of AD43. At moneyer Publius Crepusius of 82BC (FIG 3). of an Irstead type (NMS-2C208E, FIG 7). this time, Norfolk was part of the territory Whilst some may be old coins that came The same debasement was true of the of the tribe known as the Iceni. A site at into Norfolk after the invasion there’s no silver coinage although to a much less Ken Hill, Snettisham, in the northwest of reason not to believe that some were being striking level. The earliest Icenian silver Norfolk, is famous for its magnificent gold used and lost in the years before that. Early units, the Bury types with a diademed and torcs and must have been an important Roman gold coins are very occasionally dreadlock-wearing head on the obverse and cult centre in late Icenian Norfolk. Later, in found but, as we shall see, they’re generally a horse on the reverse, are of high purity AD60/61, the Icenian queen Boudica would very rare in Britain and many probably (NMS-97E2E1, FIG 8). The later issues, become famous for the uprising she led and represent post-Conquest losses. culminating in the very common Pattern- the destruction of the Roman settlements Icenian coins are often found by Horse types which continue until the Roman at London, Colchester and St. Alban’s. detectorists in the county. The earliest, invasion and possibly until Boudica’s revolt, But, at the time of the hoard’s burial we dating to around 50BC, are of good gold are variable although they don’t often have cause to believe that the relationship and silver, mirroring in their purity Roman reach the really base standards of some between Rome and the kingdom of the coins and the Gallo-Belgic staters struck of the tribe’s staters. Nonetheless, some Iceni was much warmer. The tribe’s last by the Gallic war leader Vercingetorix in do appear to be of very low grade silver king, Prasutagus, seems to have been an his campaigns against Julius Caesar. This (NMS-9EA761, FIG 9). They were struck ally of Rome before the invasion of AD43 culminated in his defeat at Alesia in 52BC to a weight standard hovering a little above and a client king afterwards, allowed and his subsequent execution in Rome. or below a gramme, in contrast to a Roman to continue ruling as a friend of the silver denarius which weighed upwards Roman people. of four grammes. thesearcher.co.uk MAY 2022 21  Given these differences, the Roman and The movement of gold outside the Roman Icenian coins would seem to have been empire at this early, pre-invasion date isn’t EXCLUSIVE mutually incompatible but there are hoards generally a northward one but an eastward where silver denarii are found together one, large numbers of Roman gold coins with silver units. We’ll look at one of these travelling to India where they were taken in more depth in a future article but for as payment for spices, silks and other now it’s enough to note the existence of exotica valued highly by the elites of the these hoards. They prove that the two Eternal City. systems, at least in the case of silver, were What of the peck marks in front of We will, as is so often the case when dealing surely more compatible than we might Augustus’ head, clear on every example in with hoards, never know. But the Broads assume. It seems from recent research the hoard? They were clearly performed Hoard is a fascinating one. It’s a hoard of that the principal ingredient of Iron Age to check that the coins were of good metal Roman gold coins found in what was then coins was often Roman coins, melted down and not plated copies. Plated forgeries of a context very much outside the boundaries and recycled as Icenian currency. Probably precious metal coins were endemic in the of the Roman empire. At this period, the these hoards should be seen simply as Roman world, occurring in every period Iceni don’t seem to have followed some stores of wealth, an assemblage of silver when the precious metal coinage appeared other tribes in following Roman elite where the individual weight standard of to be of decent gold or silver. Examples behaviour by the importing, for example, the coins or the designs that they carried of early Roman denarii that are clearly of luxury items of tableware. But they were of secondary importance. We’ve plated copies are found in Norfolk, the knew good Roman gold when they saw seen in an earlier article how, centuries silver coating having been compromised it – and tested it just to make sure. later, in the case of the West Norfolk hoard after centuries in the soil, such as a forgery (The Searcher January 2022), gold coins of an example of Julius Caesar dating to What was it worth? and other gold items could be assembled around 49BC (NMS-D8C206, FIG 10), Finally, what was this hoard worth at together as bullion. quite possibly a counterfeit which had the time? Here we can compare the ten What makes the Broads Hoard so found its way to Norfolk before AD43. aurei with the nine aurei a year’s salary unusual is its very early date, several At the time of the burial of the Broads of a legionary about a generation later. decades, before the invasion and that it’s Hoard most Icenian staters were of a low- Legionaries had their food found for them composed entirely of Roman gold. There’d grade gold, like the left-facing Norfolk wolf but faced stoppages for armour, equipment, been little coined gold issued by Rome until stater and the quarter stater we have seen. the regiment’s burial club and so on and the time of Augustus when aurei became Here, it’s time to return to the Snettisham so they would have received much less a much more visible part of the currency torcs. They are of very high purity and any than this, it’s been estimated only about system. goldsmith searching for the raw materials four aurei per year. Thus, we have a sum Gallo-Belgic and Icenian staters were with which to make such items would have equating to over two years pay for a soldier probably a relatively common sight in the much preferred good Roman aurei with their and a considerable amount of buying power. Norfolk of the later 1st century BC; unlike high carat gold and tell-tale yellow gold In the next article in this series, we will the silver coins of the Republic, Roman gold colour. Was this the intended destination look at not one but three hoards of Roman coins didn’t generally find their way there for these coins? Had they been checked coins. This time of tiny, irregular bronze until after Claudius’ conquest of AD43. for the purity of their metal and placed imitations, of the coins known colloquially Even after that date they were rare, a fact together as the stock-in-trade of an Icenian as barbarous radiates, and what they can reflected by the fact that so few aurei worker in gold? Or were they simple a cache tell us about the currency crisis of the late of the first three centuries turn up as of bullion, a store of high-quality gold buried 3rd century AD. They’re a far cry from the detector finds. and never recovered? gleaming gold of the Broads hoard but, I hope, no less interesting. Cow bone is © King’s Lynn Museum 22 THE SEARCHER MAY 2022 twitter.com/TheSearcherMag