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Description: | Site scatter of 35 Roman coins. Treasure case no. 2007 T225 (not Treasure).
Report and Catalogue prepared by Mr Sam Moorhead, Finds Adviser, Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The following 35 Roman coins were found by The Isle of Wight Metal Detecting Club in West Wight, in the Isle of Wight at a small local rally 8 April 2007. They came from an area of grass (which was sown 8 years previously) 50m by 50m and were originally submitted as potential treasure to the Finds Liaison Officer, Frank Basford. Some of the coins were as much as one foot underground. Mr. Basford cleaned off the surplus earth from the coins. The nature of the group suggests that they are site-finds, not a dispersed hoard, therefore not treasure.
They are the most unusual group of site-finds that the author has ever seen from Britain. They are summarised in Table 1 by date and mint. Immediately, it is clear that they have a strong bias to mints in the eastern part of the Empire. As a group, they are plausible as site-finds from Britain with a few pre-AD 250 coins and a significant rise in the 4th century (see Table 2 and Figure 1). However, there is not the strong representation of radiate coins from 260-75 that one might expect. Furthermore, this would be a class of site that shows stronger representation in the period 348-78 (18-19) than period 330-48 (17). Normally for British sites, Period 17 is the best represented.
The first four coins are early aes which one would expect to find in Britain, a sestertius of Hadrian, two asses of Faustina I and a sestertius of Maximinus (nos. 1-4). Likewise, the radiate of Tetricus II is a common coin for Britain (no. 6). No. 5, however, appears to be an unpublished coin of Geta from Bizya in Thrace. Roman provincial coins do occasionally turn up in Britain; given this one’s size, it is quite possible that it was able to pass as currency in the 4th century. No. 7, a piece of Diocletian, is another coin which was struck in the central or eastern empire.
The 4th century coins continue a “Thracian” or “Balkan” trend. There are two IOVI CONSERVATORI types from eastern mints (nos. 8 & 10). One GLORIA EXERCITVS and a CONSTANTINOPOLIS coin appear to come from Eastern mints (nos. 13-14) and a vota piece for Constans or Constantius II is certainly eastern (no. 18). All of the FEL TEMP REPARATIO and SPES REI PVBLICE coins come from central or eastern mints (nos. 19-25): Siscia, Thessalonika, ?Nicomedia and Cyzicus. No. 26 is quite possibly the first site-find of Procopius from Britain and three Valentinianic coins come from eastern mints (nos. 28-30) and one from Siscia (no. 32).
Finally, the latest coin is a VIRTVS EXERCITI issue of Arcadius, only struck in the east. These coins are rare west of Greece and this would be the first recorded from Britain, no example being listed in Abdy & Williams 2006.
Amongst the 4th century coins there are a few from western mints, coins that are common on sites in Britain (nos. 15 & 27; probably nos. 9, 11 & 12).
Initially, one would look at such a group with incredulity. The large bias towards central and eastern empire mints is unprecedented for site-finds in Britain. In fact, the only comparable site is Hayle in Cornwall where a number of similar coins have been found and recorded on the PAS. The author had already surmised that such central and eastern mint coins might become more common as PAS records from the south-western and southern counties which had direct maritime links with the Mediterranean. Indeed, there has been a recent record of a coin Constantine I from Heraclea from the IOW (IOW-AF2D45). Furthermore, there have been a significant number of 6th and early 7th century Byzantine coins on the PAS database from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, underlining the fact that this maritime link between the south-west and the Mediterranean continued into the post-Roman period. Indeed, in this case, detectorists are supplementing the archaeological evidence, notably eastern Mediterranean pottery, found at sites such as Tintagel and Bantham.
Therefore, the most obvious explanation for the West Wight coins is that they represent this direct maritime link between south-west Britain and the Mediterranean, providing evidence that ships could travel significantly east of Cornwall and Devon.
Emperor / Rev / Mint Ga Tr Ly Ar Ro A Si Th He Co Ni Cy An Al Misc East Un Tot
Hadrian,
117-38 1 1
Faustina I, d. 141 2 2
Geta,
198-212 1 1
Maximinus I, 235-8 1 1
Tetricus II, 271-4 1 1
Diocletian,
284-96 1 1
IOVI CONSERVATORI AVGG NN, 313-7 1 1
SOLI INVICTO COMITI, 313-7 1 1
IOVI CONSERVATORI, 317-20 1 1
CAESARVM NOSTRORVM, c. 320-5 1 1
PROVIDENTIAE AVGG, 325-8 1 1
GLORIA EXERCITVS (2),
330-5 ?1 1
CONSTANTINOPOLIS, 330-40 ?1 1
GLORIA EXERCITVS (1), 335-41 1 2 3
VOT XX MVLT XXX, 347-8 1 1
FEL TEMP REPARATIO, 350-361 ?1 1 ?1 3
SPES REI PVBLICE, 355-61 1, ?1 ?1 1 4
REPARATIO FEL TEMP, 365-6 ?1 1
GLORIA ROMANORVM,
364-78 1 1, ?1 1 1 5
SECVRITAS REI PVBLICAE, 364-78 ?1 1
VIRTVS EXERCITI,
395-401 1 1
Uncertain 2 2
Totals 1 1 1 0 4 0 1, ?3 2, ?1 1 ?1 ?2 1, ?1 0 0 5, ?1 9 35
Table 1: The Wight Coins coins by emperor/issue and mint
Reece Period Dates No. of coins Per Mill
1 Pre-41 0 0
2 41-54 0 0
3 54-68 0 0
4 69-96 0 0
5 96-117 0 0
6 117-38 1 30.3
7 138-61 2 60.6
8 161-80 0 0
9 180-92 0 0
10 193-222 1 30.3
11 222-35 0 0
12 235-60 1 30.3
13 260-75 1 30.3
14 275-96 1 30.3
15 296-317 2 60.6
16 317-30 3 90.9
17 330-48 6 181.8
18 348-64 7 212.12
19 364-78 7 212.12
20 378-88 0 0
21 388-402 1 30.3
Totals 33 1000
Table 2: West Wight coins by Reece Period and Per Mill
Figure 1: Bar-Chart showing the West Wight coins by Reece Periods (See Table 2 for periods and statistics). | Subjects: | Site-finds | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Basford, Frank - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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