Cataloguing some more finds so thought I would share. Heres a selection of 7 Roman Coins from Stoke Brook. Nothing particularly interesting or note worthy other than this is a typical coin assemblage from any rural Romano-British site. All of the coins date from AD260 or later these coins are very abundant. Coins earlier than AD260 are less common on rural sites and if found in any significant quantity hints that such an archaeological site is more unusual. From the later 3rd C through to the end of the Roman period, British society becomes progressively more monetarised particularly in the south and east of the country. The coins are usually of base metal so were effectively the small change of the time. Of the seven coins, 4 of them are official coin in that they are recognised coin styles produced by centralised mints. The 3 small coins are informal barbarous coins - unofficial coins considered to have been made at local initiative in response to periods where official coinage was in short supply. Many of these coins are toy town with match stick figures and wonderfully tribal looking emperors. Numismatists once believed such coins were made in the early Saxon period by copying Roman coins. Modern archaeological investigations during the 20th C demonstrated these coins occurring in secure Romano-British contexts. The later 3rd C was a very volatile period with parts of the Western Empire splitting from Rome under renegade Generals. Similar periods occurred during the middle of the 4thC. Such periods of political instability may well have restricted the supply of official coinage into Britannia hence the need for the barbarous coinage. One of the coins is a damaged base silver coin of Postumous a rebel General who ruled over Spain Gaul and Britain from 260 - 269AD. He wears a spikey crown - hes looking like Sol the Sun God with the spikes representing the suns rays. The reverse of the coin shows the figure of Aequitas - from where we get the English word equity from. She carries a cornucopia (horn of plenty) and a set of scales - and probably meant fair measure a reflection on the robustness of the (silver content) value of the coin.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 18:53:12 +0000
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