Not exactly ancient history, but I found this interesting. A hoard of coins were found in the fireplace of Alasdair "Maclain" MacDonald, the massacred chief of the MacDonald clan. He was the chief of the Clan MacDonald who was massacred by government troops in 1692. From Wikipedia: “The Massacre of Glencoe took place in Glen Coe in the Highlands of Scotland on 13 February 1692. An estimated 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by Scottish government forces, allegedly for failing to pledge allegiance to the new monarchs, William III and Mary II.” According to the article: “The 36 silver and bronze coins vary in date from the late 1500s through the 1680s. Most of them were made locally, but coins from France and the Spanish Netherlands (today, largely the area of Belgium and Luxembourg) were also present, possibly mementos of Maclain's youthful travels abroad.” "What's really exciting is that these coins are no later than the 1680s," Michael Given, a senior lecturer of archaeology and co-director of the project, said in the statement. "So were they buried in a rush as the Massacre started first thing in the morning of the 13th February 1692?" https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...buried-moments-before-macdonald-clan-massacre
There's several things here which do not add up for me. First off, associating the deposition of hoards with individual, fine-grained historical events can often be problematic. Secondly, the coins are an extremely bizarre mix of issues - in addition to some originating from overseas and there being base-metal as well as silver coins present, quite a few are broken or pierced for wearing as jewellery. The date-range is extremely wide and there are quite a few coins here which would almost certainly not have been accepted as money in Scotland during this period. Additionally, the fireplace findspot is simply bizarre in line with the interpretation they've provided, people fleeing from pursuers intent on killing them (if we're going with the Glencoe massacre theory) do not generally tend to bury their wealth in a place which would have required considerable effort to make ready for deposition - quite literally ripping the flagstones up in this instance. Something seems weird about the ceramic vessel used too - I'm not as expert in this field compared with numismatics, but it looks to have already been broken when deposited and is quite possibly a piece of German salt-glazed stoneware. Although this was mostly made in the 16th to early 17th centuries (so yes, might well have been in use during the 1690's), damaged ceramic vessels were usually disposed of once broken - so it seems a bit strange that this piece would simply be lying around for ad hoc use. My verdict? In my view, this is not representative of the stored wealth belonging to a high-status Scottish clan chief or a member of his inner circle. Normally I'd be unwilling to stick my neck out on this issue, but I'm prepared to take flak for it and will accordingly stick my head above the parapet. I do not think this hoard is 'real', I think prima facie that it is a hoax - I suspect a Victorian or early 20th century antiquarian may well be responsible. I am willing to be convinced otherwise, but there are aspects of this which on the basis of the current evidence do not seem to add up.
Thank you for reading my post. I, too, had problems with the conclusion of the report. It seems to me that the diabolical attack on the Clan MacDonald was both sudden and unexpected. There would have been little time to gather coins to bury for safekeeping. Lack of adequate warning could explain the diversity of coins. I would think, however, that more valuable coins (especially gold coins) would have been found in any coin hoard that belonged to a clan chief.
