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Message:: [QUOTE="John Conduitt, post: 7751647, member: 109923"]Very interesting. Their hypothesis might apply to other hoards too. But you're right to point out that their conclusions are presented rather dogmatically. In all of their assumptions they could be wrong: "With [hoards of valuable treasure], the coins would be in a chest or amphora, but that wasn't the case here. These coins were lying spread over a large area and were just loose in the earth."- This can happen because the hoard was in something perishable, like a bag, and then disturbed and spread out e.g. by a plough. Constantius I Follis, 305-306[ATTACH=full]1327284[/ATTACH]London. Bronze, 9.50g (RIC VI 52a). From the Falmouth Hoard, found in 1865 by 2 men ploughing a field. The 600-1000 bronze coins were surrounded by black material that crumbled in their hands. Constantine I Follis, 320[ATTACH=full]1327292[/ATTACH]London. Bronze, 3.0g (RIC VII 171). From the Martock Hoard, found 2012. 419 coins were found scattered in a ploughed field along with pieces of pottery, thought to come from several vessels. Constans Centenionalis, 348-350[ATTACH=full]1327294[/ATTACH]Trier. Bronze, 5.26g (RIC VIII 219). From the Bridgnorth Hoard. Found in 2007, it comprised 2,892 late Roman coins that had been disturbed and scattered by deep ploughing in a potato field. "Also, they turned out not to be particularly valuable coins. What we found were mainly bronze coins; there were no gold ones, for example. That's not what you'd expect if the find were a treasure trove."- Many hoards contain mainly bronze coins. Tetricus II Antoninianus, 273-274[ATTACH=full]1327276[/ATTACH]Cologne. Bronze, 2.6g (RIC 270). From the Beachy Head Hoard, found in 1973. 5,540 bronze antoniniani were buried around 273 in a bronze bucket. Postumus Antoninianus, 260-265[ATTACH=full]1327281[/ATTACH]Cologne. Billon, 3.3g (RIC 67). From the South Pertherton Hoard, found in 2013. It comprised 7,563 coins from 161-274, mostly debased antoniniani of the Gallic Empire. The fact that they were "relatively worthless at the time" is thought to be behind the failure of the hoarder to retrieve them. "Finally, the coins were from a very broad time period: the oldest coins date from the Republic [up to 27 BC, Ed.] and the most recent from the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius [up to 180 AD]. This indicates that the coins must have been deposited by different people over a long period.'’- As mentioned, many hoards cover a long period of time. Galba Denarius, 68-69[ATTACH=full]1327277[/ATTACH]Rome. Silver, 3.03g (RCV I 2109). From the Westbury Sub Mendip Hoard, which contained issues spanning from Marc Antony (32-31BC) to Septimius Severus (AD193). That's 225 years, a broader timeframe than the hoard in the article. They might have been votive. Perhaps they belonged to a ferryman. Maybe people just lost the odd coin when they were waiting to cross. Or perhaps someone just thought it was an easy place to find again when they wanted to retrieve their coins. It is, though, interesting to think about other reasons people may have had to deposit coins rather than simply to hide their wealth. Tetricus I Radiate, 274-280[ATTACH=full]1327303[/ATTACH]Bronze, 0.86g (cf RIC V2 127). This seems to have been part of the Whitchurch Hoard, a very large hoard of early brass sestertii and much later bronze minims. It's hypothesised these were left by an unofficial mint, where the very worn sestertii were melted down to make the minims.[/QUOTE]

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