ROMAN BRITAIN COIN HOARDS

CRISPVS NOBIL C ....................................... BEAT TRANQVILITAS
Coin of Crispus - Killingholme Hoard
London Mint - PLON - RIC Volume VII (London) No. 275

In the absence of banks, citizens throughout the geographical territory of the Roman Empire hoarded their money -- coins -- in a safe location adjacent to their dwellings or places of business. The most common method of storage was burial in the ground in some form of earthenware container. A great number of these hoards remained in their secret hiding places as their owners perished due to warfare, random violence or illness. Hoards are constantly being unearthed -- and have been throughout the intervening years -- sometimes by accident, sometimes by design, throughout the geographical confines of the ancient Roman world. Because of the way in which such hoards were stored, the coins are often in excellent condition. Numerous hoards have been discovered by farmers plowing fields or digging wells. The 20th century was particularly rich in such discoveries due to extensive archaeological work in general and as a result of increased road and building construction in previously remote areas due to expanding population growth. In addition, many hoards have been unearthed in formerly investigated areas due to the increased digging depth of modern excavation equipment. Metal detectors in the hands of both professional and amateur archaeologists have contributed enormously to the discovery of Roman Coin Hoards.

The Killingholme area in Late Roman times (modern place names in parentheses)
Map image reproduced with permission of Anthony Wilson (York coins)

Sizable coin hoards have regularly been unearthed within the geographical boundaries of Roman Britain throughout the years. There is now an official protocol for handling hoard discoveries: British Portable Antiquities Scheme. The find must be reported to the government and forwarded to the British Museum for study and data recording -- historically important coins can be retained by the Museum with appropriate compensation to the discoverer -- the remaining coins are returned to the finder and usually released into the numismatic trade. A typical discovery of recent times is the Killingholme hoard which was unearthed by metal detectorists in 1993 near the village of Killingholme, which is situated on the south bank of the Humber estuary in northeast England. The find consisted of over 3000 Constantinian bronze reduced folles mainly from Western Empire mints including that of London.

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