Unique ID: IARCH-F7BCFC
Workflow status: Published
Lakenheath
Broad period: IRON AGE
Period from: IRON AGE
Period to: ROMAN
Last ruler: ECEN/ECE
Last Reece period: Period 1 Pre-Claudian and Iron Age (Pre AD 41)
Date from: AD 37
Date to: AD 50
Terminal reason: Date of latest coin
Period | Ruler | Denomination | Mint | Geog. area | From | To | Quantity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IRON AGE | Cunobelin | Stater (gold) | - | Eastern | - | - | 2 | |
IRON AGE | ANTED (Iceni) | Stater (gold) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 1 | |
IRON AGE | Uninscribed | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 111 | |
IRON AGE | CANI DVRO | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 3 | |
IRON AGE | ANTED (Iceni) | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 92 | |
IRON AGE | ECEN/ECE | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 186 | |
IRON AGE | Uninscribed | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 9 | |
IRON AGE | SAENV | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 2 | |
IRON AGE | AESV | Unit (silver) | - | East Anglia | - | - | 7 | |
ROMAN | Republic | Denarius (Roman Republic) | - | - | - | - | 37 | |
ROMAN | Republic | Denarius (Roman Republic) | - | - | - | - | 4 | |
ROMAN | Augustus | Denarius (Empire) | - | - | - | - | 8 | |
ROMAN | Tiberius | Denarius (Empire) | - | - | - | - | 16 | |
ROMAN | Caligula | Denarius (Empire) | - | - | - | - | 2 |
Coin data quality rating: Good (Grade 3)
Robertson 2000, 3-4 no. 15:
""On 23 November 1959 a hoard of several hundred coins was discovered on the 'Roman Field', Lakenheath..
The hoard of Icenian coins was found near the middle of the Roman Field on the eastern outskirts of the fourth-century settlement. William Mackender, ploughing a little deeper than usual, about 9 in., stopped as soon as he saw he had thrown out the base of a pot, picked it up and a shower of coins fell out. He sent an urgent message to me and together we gathered over 400 coins, gold and silver, from the soil. The smaller silver coins were all stained green. Knowing well the angle and distance objects are thrown by the plough, we were able to locate the spot from which the base had come, a small depression in the surface of the chalk. At this point there is a small rise in the level of the underlying chalk and the plough had sheared an inch or two from the chalk surface, tipping out the base a yard away and smashing the body and rim.
The pot must have been lying on its side as green coin stains could be seen on the interior surface of the neck sherds, yet when restored the coins only filled about one-third of its capacity. The sherds showed new and old fractures. Practically all the newly broken sherds fitted together to form a longitudinal half, giving a full profile..
During the interval before the inquest the surrounding ploughed soil was searched and over thirty more coins were found, none of them more than a yard away from the depression where the pot had lain. Clearing the depression showed that there was a hole in the chalk about 7 in. deep filled with sand and chalk rubble. In the wall of the hole there was a small coin which had stained the adjacent sand green showing that it must have come from an ancient breakage. Another coin was in the bottom of the hole. About a dozen coins were found in the undisturbed soil below plough level, pointing to the same conclusion.
After the inquest the soil in the unploughed part adjacent to the hole was searched and nine more green coins found on the surface of the chalk. These coins again must have been spilt from the first breakage.
The pot is a butt beaker with a pedestal base, 8 1/4 in. high. Externally and internally the colour is a sandy brown with a dark fabric. Horizontal grooves frame faint vertical combings between these lines. This form is frequently found at Colchester and is regarded as pre-invasion in date."
(Lady) Grace Briscoe, in BNJ, 29 (1959), 215f., fig. of pot
The coins were 3 gold and 412(1) silver Ancient British, and 67 Roman den.:
AV AR
Ancient British: Cunobelin 2
Ancient British: Icenian;
uninscribed 119
inscribed 1 292
3 411
Roman: Republic 34
Julius Caesar 1
Octavian 2
Mark Antony (legionary) 4 (1 pl.)
Augustus 8 (1 pl.)
Tiberius 16
Gaius 2 (of AD 37)
67
1. Although the total no. of Ancient British silver coins was said to be 412, only 411 were listed.
481 coins in Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
R.A.G. Carson, and R.H.M. Dolley, in BNJ, 29 (1959), 217-9, types, wts."
De Jersey (2015) writes: "The breakdown of types in the following list is based on the CCI records, which suggest that there were a total of 480 coins in the hoard: 413 Iron Age and 67 Roman. For the Iron Age component this list should replace all earlier accounts (e.g. Allen 1970, 21; Haselgrove 1987, 328; Chadburn 2006, hoard 18), which all rely heavily on Dolley's inadequate classification (in Briscoe et al. 1959, 218-19). Briscoe (ibid., 217) noted that the coins filled only about one-third of the restored beaker, thus raising the possibility that there could have been many more in the original deposit. There certainly appear to have been several more finds at the site since the discoveries of 1959".
Current location of find: Fitzwilliam Museum
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 23rd November 1959 - Monday 23rd November 1959
Legacy hoard number: 2018
SMR reference number: Pastscape 380335; HER LKH 020
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
Feature: Pit