Author: Phil Hughes

Featured Find – Penny of King Cnut

Posted on by Phil Hughes

This Early Medieval penny was recovered by a metal-detector user during 2020. It was issued between AD 1030-1035. The obverse depicts King Cnut wearing a diademed crown facing left, with a sceptre in front. It reads +CNVT REX AN, meaning Cnut, King of England. The reverse shows a central short cross surrounded by an inscription reading +AELFWOLD M-O THEO. This denotes that the coin was issued by the moneyer Aelfwold in Thetford.

King Cnut ruled England between AD 1016-1035. He is famous in popular imagination as a 12th century legend whereby he sat on his throne by the seashore and instructed the incoming tide to cease. In his reign, he raised a Danegeld – a peacekeeping land tax paid to the Danes – of 82,000 pounds (30,800 kg) of silver collected from all over England. As a result, more Early Medieval silver coins from this period have been recovered from Denmark than England. Nevertheless, 24 pennies of Cnut have been found in Suffolk. 

View the full record on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database

Thank you to the finder for allowing this object to be featured.

This find was recorded by the Suffolk Finds Recording Team, supported by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Find of the Month – January 2021

Posted on by Phil Hughes

A pair of barbed and tanged flint arrowheads have been found near Eye.

These arrowheads were recovered close to one another in 2020. They are flint barbed and tanged arrowheads, so named because of the distinctive flanking barbs and central tang on the proximal (bottom) end. Triangular-shaped, the edges and much of each face have been ‘retouched’, which means that they have been modified to both sharpen the point and edges, as well as creating the ideal shape. Tool manufacture and retouching was intricate work undertaken by a skilled craftsperson.

SF- B5EB04

The Early Bronze Age (circa 2400-1600 BC) was a period of change including the introduction of ‘Beaker’ style pottery and the advent of metalworking. These arrowheads highlight that the manufacture and use of flint tools continued to be an important part of people’s lives. Archaeological evidence suggests they were used as projectiles in both hunting activities and as weapons, perhaps in warfare. They are also frequently recovered as grave goods from archaeological sites, suggesting they performed significant roles in both life and death in the Bronze Age.

Both arrowheads have been recorded separately on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database.

View the full record of SF-B5D10C on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database.

View the full record of SF-B5EB04 on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database.

Thank you to the finder for allowing this object to be featured.

This find was recorded by the Suffolk Finds Recording Team, supported by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Roman brooch, Lackford

Posted on by Phil Hughes
SF-AB105F. Copyright Suffolk County Council

This zoomorphic brooch was recovered by a local metal detector user earlier this year. The term ‘zoomorphic’ is used to signify animal representation. In this case, it is something of a misnomer because the creature is mythological. It is the ‘hippocamp’, coming from the Greek words for horse and sea-monster. It has the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a fish. It frequently appears in Roman iconography, with a fine example depicted on a mosaic unearthed near the large temple and bath complex at Bath, Somerset

The brooch’s front face contains a lozenge-shaped panel inlaid with blue enamel. Plate brooches with enamelled surfaces emerged towards the end of the first century AD. Set within this panel are three circular spots filled with orange enamel, laid out in a triangle shape. Enamelled circular spots are a feature of continental plate brooches rather than locally-produced forms. The presence of the brooch in Suffolk tells us that communities across the Empire were trading and using items of dress with a shared visual vocabulary.

View the full record on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database: SF-AB105F

Thank you to the finder for allowing this object to be featured.

This find was recorded by the Suffolk Finds Recording Team, supported by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.