From Julius Caesar to Boadicea: a century of Icenian coins
Iron Age coins are not just currency: they are miniature works of art. Carly Hilts visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to see a new special display exploring the imagery of the Iceni.
numismatics
CWA 113 Letters – May 2022
Your observations, your objections, and your opinions: send them to cwaletters@world-archaeology.com
Analysis of Roman coinage sheds light on financial crisis
A study involving the scientific analysis of Roman coinage has revealed a significant debasement in the value of silver denarii at the start of the 1st century BC, shedding new light on a financial crisis alluded to by Roman statesman…
Iron Age coin database launched online
The Celtic Coin Index is more technologically advanced than its predecessors.
Roman amphitheatre found in Switzerland
The Kaiseraugst amphitheatre was discovered in the Rheinfelden district at a site known to have been the location of a Roman quarry
World News: Canada, Petite Mustique, China
A round up of some of the latest archaeological stories from across the globe, including the discovery of a tudor coin found in Canada, evidence of leprosy in the Caribbean, an ancient murder victim in China.
From tents to towns: tracing Torksey after the Vikings
In AD 872-873, a Viking army spent the winter at Torksey in Lincolnshire. Their camp is now well known, but the team that discovered it have since turned their attention to what happened after the Vikings left. Dawn Hadley, Julian D Richards, Gareth Perry, and Elizabeth Craig-Atkins explore the evidence for the town that was left behind, and discuss the significance of this Viking legacy for Anglo-Saxon England.
Roman roadside life and death near Aylesbury
Around ten percent of the excavated individuals were missing skulls, with many clearly decapitations, evidenced by visible cut marks and placement of the head between the legs.
Gold coin of Elizabeth I
This coin, found near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is one of a series of high denomination gold coins issued during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Elizabethan coins are among the objects most frequently reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). Gold…
The Metal in Britain’s Coins: where did it come from and how did it get here?
At a time when even the highest-value coin in regular circulation (£2) will sometimes hardly cover the cost of a cup of coffee, it is refreshing to be transported back to an era when coins were generally much higher in…
Henry VII coin unearthed in Canada
The coin is a Henry VII ‘half groat’, believed to have been minted in Canterbury, UK.
Remains of a Hellenistic fortress revealed in Israel
Weapons, pottery, charred wooden beams, and dozens of coins dating to the late 2nd century BC were also unearthed.
Finds tray – Harold II
Coins of Harold II Godwinson (r. 1066), killed at the Battle of Hastings, are not common – the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded only 28 such single finds in 24 years. Even rarer are those minted in Harold’s…
This week: Domitian
Few figures in history have seen their reputation rise and fall quite like Domitian (AD 51-96). The third and final ruler of the dynasty founded in AD 69 by his father Vespasian, he became one of the longest-serving emperors, praised during his 15-year reign as a living god, but later remembered as corrupt, murderous and deeply depraved.
England’s largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard found in Norfolk
Most of the hoard was discovered between 2014 and 2020 by a single anonymous metal-detectorist.
England’s largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard unearthed
The trove consists of 131 gold coins and four gold objects
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637)
It is hard to disagree with the astronomers. They clearly felt that naming a single lunar crater after Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc in 1935 was insufficient and, in 1993, honoured him again, this time with an asteroid. But astronomy is…
Gold Quiz
Which book of the Bible describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets 'made of pure gold'?
News in brief from China, Guatemala, and Spain
Brief summaries of important archaeological discoveries, including the world's oldest coin mint, ancient Mayan parks, and a cave painting scene of honey-gathering.
Graeco-Roman settlement and artefacts unearthed at Alexandria
The most exciting discovery was that of an intricately sculpted and well-preserved alabaster bust of Alexander the Great.
Routes to the past: ancient finds at construction sites
Among the many discoveries are the oldest known pistachio nut in Britain, found at the bottom of a well and dated to AD 24-128.
This week: River finds
It seems less obvious today, as we hurtle about the country using modern road and rail networks, but river crossings were once dangerous places. In ancient times, rites in the form of prayers and sacrifices would be performed to appease the river gods and to improve the chances that goods and travellers would make it across unscathed.
Bridge over troubled water: Roman finds from the Tees at Piercebridge and beyond
Ritual or rubbish – how should we interpret objects that ended their days in rivers during the Roman period? Hella Eckardt and Philippa Walton consider this question by exploring the more than 3,600 artefacts that have been recovered from the waters of the Tees at Piercebridge.
Hoards from Wiltshire
The landscape of Wiltshire is full of indications of the county’s rich history, but perhaps some of the most compelling information about the area’s past comes from the hoards buried beneath its soil. The contents of these hoards vary widely,…
Metal-detectorist unearths Viking coin hoard in Isle of Man
The Irish and Manx coins depict the profile of King Sihtric Silkbeard, who served as Norse King of Dublin around AD 989 to 1036.
HS2 unearths Iron Age coin hoard in Hillingdon
'It takes us back to the tumultuous time of Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul.'
Hoards Quiz
The UK’s Treasure Act of 1996, which covers the discovery of hoards, defines as ‘treasure’ any object found that is what?
Secrets of the Galloway Hoard
With a large amount of gold and Anglo-Saxon objects otherwise unseen in Scotland, the Viking Age hoard discovered in Galloway in 2014 is unusual in a number of ways. What do we know so far about this complex hoard? And what more might its contents tell us? As the Galloway Hoard goes on display in a new exhibition and research continues, Martin Goldberg explores the answers, and the new questions, the enigmatic assemblage offers up.
Nero’s Britain: rebellion, reconstruction, and a revised reputation
The Roman emperor Nero has long been reviled as a notorious tyrant, prone to lavish and often murderous excesses, who headed a chaotic regime that saw Britain erupt into open insurrection led by the rebel queen Boudica. A new exhibition at the British Museum presents a more nuanced picture, however, and Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts spoke to the curator, Thorsten Opper, to find out more about what Nero’s reign had meant for Roman Britain.
50 Finds of Early Medieval Coinage
In this latest publication in the ‘50 Finds’ series from the Portable Antiquities Scheme, John Naylor draws on a selection of 50 early medieval coins from the 10,000 recorded in the PAS database to present a sweeping yet engaging history…
Jerash: revealing a ‘peripheral’ part of an ancient city in northern Jordan
In AD 749, the ancient city of Jerash was hit by a devastating earthquake. Excavating private houses that collapsed during the disaster has revealed a wealth of information about the Umayyad city. These, though, are just some of the finds encountered during recent archaeological work in the north-western part of the site, as Achim Lichtenberger, Eva Mortensen, and Rubina Raja reveal.
Queen Adelaide’s castle in the Tuscan marches
Thanks to modern scientific analyses, the every-day circumstances of Tuscany’s Dark Age peoples are no longer mute. One thing is certain from this excavation: objects and nature played an active part in transforming the primitive experiences of Tuscany’s 9th-century peasants and their early feudal masters into some of the most sophisticated lifestyles in Europe by the 12th century.
Discoveries in the Judean Desert
The newly discovered fragments consist of over 20 pieces of parchment belonging to the Minor Prophets Scroll, including sections of the books of Zechariah and Nahum.
Highlights of the latest Treasure Report
The most recent Treasure Annual Report, which covers finds made in 2018, has been released by the British Museum. In total, 1,094 cases were reported as Treasure for that year, comprising over 20,906 individual artefacts. Of those reported, 347 have…
Exhibition on Nero promises to shed new light on Roman emperor
The British Museum claims it will present Nero, who was also widely admired for popular policies, extravagant games, and building projects, in a balanced light and allow visitors to make up their own minds.
Letters from CA March 2021/April 2021
A collection of letters, tweets, and anecdotes from our readers! Featuring, mosaics, Chactonbury Ring, and auto-generated subtitles