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A Roman hoard in Cornwall

10 Jan 2017
Find of
the Month

I had been looking forward to the Kernow Search and Recovery Club Sunday dig for some time and at last it was the morning to get ready and set off. I packed up all the requirements for the day: sandwiches, a flask of coffee and my trusted Minelab Safari detector and set off fully charged with anticipation of what the day's search might reveal. The weather was rather overcast, cold and somewhat windy but when do such aspects put off a determined detectorist eh? Well, I parked up and spotted some colleagues, so popped over for a chat. We discussed the things of importance varying from the filling in of holes to previous finds made. I'm quite fortunate in that my employment involves talking to land owners and farmers and so it just a matter of finding the right time to ask for permission to search. The site we were all looking at on this day was a positive result of just such asking. So we set about having a good old look at the site. Soon we had all dispersed over the fields.

It was pretty easy detecting too as the fields had just been ploughed and rolled within the last few days. I was detecting in a straight line and I suppose it must have been 10 minutes or so when I had my first signal. I re checked it from various angles and it retained its clarity so I began to dig. The soft reddish sandy soil was comparatively easy to dig despite a lack of recent rain. Anyhow, I heaved another scoop out and checked the excavated pile of soil. The signal was out and revealed itself to be a small corroded Roman coin. Well, at that stage this find had made my day already, as Cornwall isn't exactly noted for finds from this period. A few steps more and another signal, which also turned into a Roman coin.

My detecting colleague Kyle Neal was searching quite nearby and also found a Roman coin. We had a brief chat and now our suspicions were growing. Yes, it might just be casual loss of a few coins or just possibly we also dared to consider it might just be something else. We called other club members over who then also began to find a few scattered coins, all of them Roman. It was then decided to cordon off an area and the other club members departed leaving Kyle and I to see just what was going on here. Well it wasn't too long before we had the grand total of 10 coins between us. It seemed a real likelihood that what we had just dared to hope for, a hoard, could be a distinct possibility now. We carried on searching uncovering even more coins in the same area. Several more were located at shallow depth all of them giving wonderfully sharp signals. It was fantastic to get a signal and be in the situation where you just knew you were about to unearth another ancient coin. I was searching in the area where most signals came from when I had a slightly different type of signal. It was still clear and positive but had a sort of hollow sounding tone to it. I stopped and tested it from several angles, once again it was still evident. I began digging and at about six inches came across further coins. I re checked and signal was larger and much louder now. I can tell you that's when the old ticker really starts to pound a fair bit and maybe the odd bead of sweat on the forehead too. I dug carefully and at about ten inches down saw a smudge of greenish colour in the soil. I didn't need to remove any more of the soil because the green colouration was made of coins!

I called Kyle over and then other club members came for a look at what was going on. As each person looked down into the hole their expressions were all of sheer awe, but their verbal mutterings varied I can tell you. We had to have a break and supped a few cups of coffee whilst we decided what to do. As it was clearly a major discovery we called our FLO, unfortunately she wasn't very well but despite that she offered to locate an archaeologist for us. At this stage we also contacted the land owners who came over straight away to see what all the fuss was about. Sometime after Nick the archaeologist arrived, almost as excited as we were. It turns out this was his first ever attendance at the discovery of a Roman coin hoard. Nick advised us on what was going to happen and over a period of five hours he carefully extracted the coins. It was interesting to note that the original hole dug in which to deposit the coins was either lined with or topped off with possible marker stones. So there was evidence of some considerable level of care in depositing the coin hoard. Initially there was no signs of a pot or other container. However when the last layer of coins was removed darker coloured traces of a possible leather bag were located. It is likely that some of the organic matter had been preserved in the corrosion deposits of the coins.

We all had a great time as Nick enlightened us on various aspects of archaeology and how it was so important to gather as much evidence and material from such excavations. The organic remains of the possible leather bag were placed carefully into seal topped bags and labelled. The excavation had only just been completed before dusk fell and then suddenly the weather changed and it pelted down with rain. At present only several Emperors depicted on the coins have been identified and these are………it was suggested that the approximate date of the hoard's burial is around AD 240. Whether genuine Romans deposited these coins for some reason or a Celtic tribe buried them having received them as a payment for trade etc. We shall perhaps never know. All I do know at the moment is that the feelings I felt when it was unearthed will form life time memories. I had read before of course about other people discovering hoards but never considered that one day I would be ranked amongst them. What an incredible day and thank you to all my club colleagues who were there that day, the land owners and last but not least Nick the archaeologist.

  

Darren - England, UK.

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