THREE IRON AGE CELTIC HOARDS OF GOLD COINS FROM THE CHELMER VALLEY CHELMSFORD MUSEUM

Transcription

1 THREE IRON AGE CELTIC HOARDS OF GOLD COINS FROM THE CHELMER VALLEY CHELMSFORD MUSEUM 1

2 1 CELTIC PRE-ROMAN IRON AGE COIN HOARDS 1.1 What are celtic gold coins? Celtic coins were originally inspired by the Greek coins of Philip II of Macedon. The denomination is called a stater. Many show a horse which gradually becomes disjointed over time, and other symbols, such as wheels and fronds of branches. Some bear the names of the tribal leaders who issued them. They first appeared on the continent, in France and Belgium in the 2nd century BC, and may have later been used to pay celtic warriors defending Gaul against the campaigns of Julius Caesar. Later on they were made and used in lowland Britain, in gold, silver and in bronze. There are also half and quarter staters. Gold is listed by the Roman Geographer and writer, Strabo, as one of the chief exports of Celtic Britain, so that the metal was clearly available. The metal used, however, was an alloy of gold, silver and copper. 1.2 Method of manufacture Iron Age gold coin blanks were manufactured by pouring molten gold into clay moulds. Examples of other coin moulds have been excavated at Sheepen, on the outskirts of Colchester. These blanks were then struck between two metal dies, bearing the obverse and reverse impressions. The quality of engraving of the dies must have been superb, and displays a level of sophistication for the pre-roman period which surprises many people. 1.3 Why were they buried? It is not known why the coins were buried. Obviously the quantity of gold meant that each of the hoards represented a large sum of money in the form of gold bullion, several thousands of pounds today, and it may have been simply deposited in the ground for safekeeping (there being no banks in the Iron Age) perhaps at a time of unrest. Alternatively the coins may have been a very generous gift to the Gods, and were not meant to have been found again. 1.4 Discovery and the Treasure process The coins were found by a metal detectorist in fields. Detectorists have to have the permission of the landowner, and normally agree to share the profits of any treasure found (though such finds are very rare). Such finds of gold and silver which are over 300 years old have to be declared under the Treasure Act 1996 to the local Coroner, normally via the local museum. The British Museum will then identify and date what has been found. If the finds are declared Treasure, they belong to the State, and the 2

3 local museum has to raise the full market value in order to buy them for display. 1.5 Display The three hoards are on display at Chelmsford Museum in the downstairs Story of Chelmsford exhibition (fully accessible by wheelchair). A story unfolds, starting with the Gallo-Belgic coins from Great Leighs and minted on the continent, moving on to the first British Ingoldisthorpe coins minted, and found at Great Waltham. It continues with the dynasties of local tribal rulers, from Addedomarus, Dubnovellaunus and finally Cunobelin. The displays are chronologically arranged, so that the Roman Invasion by Claudius then immediately follows the late Iron Age showcases. The hoards are displayed alongside a reconstructed section of a thatched round house, contemporary Iron Age pottery and metalwork, in order to show that the coins represent one facet of Iron Age society one which was already well connected with the Romanised world. 1.6 Further reading Philip de Jersey 1996, Celtic Coinage in Britain (Shire Books) 1.7 Acknowledgements These hoards were purchased by Chelmsford Borough Council with the assistance of : the Heritage Lottery Fund the Resource/V & A Purchase Fund the Essex Heritage Trust the Pilgrim Trust Friends of Chelmsford Museums Essex Numismatic Society Private donations 3

4 2 THE GREAT LEIGHS HOARD 2.1 Over a number of years, 40 gold coins were found in a field at Great Leighs. The coins are of a type called Gallo-Belgic, because they were originally minted on the continent in northern France and western Belgium by the celtic tribes living there. There are a number of distinctive types of Gallo-Belgic coins, each named as a letter of the alphabet. One of the important things about the Great Leighs hoard is that three different types of coins were found together in one hoard. There are four large Gallo Belgic A staters, three Gallo Belgic A quarterstaters, and 33 Gallo-Belgic E staters. In actual fact, the coins are made of an alloy of gold (60%), silver (30%) and copper (10%). 2.2 Findspot and discovery The coins were discovered over a number of years by a metal detectorist in a farmers field at Great Leighs. This village lies on the old Roman Road from Chelmsford to Braintree, just north of Little Waltham, a known Iron Age village (from excavations during construction of its by pass in ). 2.3 The three types of Gallo Belgic coins The large A type staters are the earliest represented, and were made in the Somme valley in the middle of the 2 nd Century BC, and imported into Britain. It is the most beautiful of all celtic coins and depicts a head with elaborate hair style and headdress. In fact the coins are influenced by the earlier Greek coins of Philip II of Macedon. The reverse shows a celtic horse. The E type is more common in Britain, and has only one side decorated with a celtic horse (the other is plain). It was struck in colossal numbers between 60 and 50BC, during the Gallic wars of the Celtic tribes with Julius Caesar. Caesar himself mentioned that one reason for his invasion of Britain in 55 and 54BC was that Britain was harbouring and supplying celtic warriors for use in the Gallic wars on the continent. Thus an explanation of the coins coming to Britain might be interpreted as British mercenaries pay. 4

5 3 THE GREAT WALTHAM HOARD 3.1 Ten coins were found by metal detectorists in The coins are among the earliest coins produced in Britain. Two of them belong to the Ingoldisthorpe type, seven belong to the Westerham series, and one is unique, and dubbed the Great Waltham type. It is likely that they were made in south east Britain, north of the Thames, in the 1 st century BC. One researcher has suggested that they were struck by Cassivellaunus, tribal leader of the Catuvellauni based in Hertfordshire near to St Albans, in 54 BC, to finance the resistance to Caesar s invasion of Britain. The coins are an alloy of gold, silver and copper. The coins all depict wreaths of leaves (possibly a very debased version of the Greek Philip II head) on one side, and a very debased horse on the other side. The horse is just recognisable from its limbs, body and tail, but the picture is confused with other elements, notably round pellets, arcs and coffee beans. Like the other two hoards described here, the coins were found in the Chelmer Valley, close to the Roman roads running from Chelmsford to Great Dunmow and Braintree respectively. 5

6 4 THE PARISH OF GREAT WALTHAM BIGA HOARD 4.1. Biga is the latin name for a chariot pulled by two horses, as shown on most of these coins. 4.2 Twenty three coins were found in the hoard, all made of gold, of a Celtic, pre-roman Iron Age type known as staters. Five of the coins were issued by Dubnovellaunus and 18 by Cunobelin both tribal leaders in the decades before the Roman invasion of AD 43. The coins were probably issued at the turn of the 1 st century BC and 1 st century AD. The hoard may have been deposited in the ground c AD There is some evidence that there was a settlement on the site where the coins were found, as Iron Age and Roman artefacts were reportedly found by the metal detectorist and landowner. 4.4 The coins of Dubnovellaunus show the classic Celtic horse on one side, but the use of a palm branch, associated with the Roman Goddess of Victory, is a deliberate link to the Romanised world. 4.5 Indeed, Cunobelin, the best known of the Celtic British leaders and Shakespeare s Cymbeline, was a past master of using his coinage for propaganda. Many of his coins depict the ear of barley, the source of his wealth. In the case of the stater coins in this hoard, which are Cunobelin s earliest recorded issues, there is a superb representation of the two horse chariot, or biga, which Julius Caesar had encountered to his surprise in his invasion of Britain in BC and which formed the main battle tactic of the celts, and later use by Boudica in AD 61. This is the primary explanation for the long dykes which surround Cunobelin s stronghold of Camulodunum at Colchester, as an anti-chariot defensive trap. The biga coins are rare, and possibly associated with Cunobelin s accession to the throne in c. AD Above all, these coins bear the first inscriptions on British coinage recording both the names of the tribal leaders and Camulodunum. Thus five coins issued by Dubnovellaunus bear his name DVBNOVELLAVN, and the 18 biga coins have CVNOBELINI under the chariot, and the abbreviation CAMVL (for Camulodunum) within a central tablet on the obverse. In Latin there is no U the letter V is used instead. 4.7 Condition. The Dubnovellaunus coins are described as good-very fine. The Cunobelin coins are largely described as extremely fine. 6

7 4.8 Findspot & discovery. The hoard undoubtedly represented a considerable amount of bullion and the savings of a local wealthy aristocrat. The findspot lies within the Chelmer Valley, not far from Great Waltham (the findspot of another hoard of Celtic coins in ) and the excavated Iron Age village at Little Waltham). It is also close to a route which could well have existed in the late Iron Age, which was later consolidated as a Roman road, from Little Waltham to Great Dunmow History. In the century or so before the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43, Britain was divided up between tribes, many recorded by Julius Caesar, and by later Roman historians. These tribes were ruled by aristocrats or kings, though there is a highly confusing degree of interaction between neighbouring tribes and kings. Dubnovellaunus coins are clearly concentrated in Essex, the home of the Trinovantes tribe, ruled from Camulodunum (Colchester). He may well have succeeded Addedomarus (who is represented by two coins in the Museum collection) at the end of the 1 st century BC. He may be the same person as the Dumnobeallaunos mentioned by the emperor Augustus in his autobiography, Res Gestae. In that, the King fled to Rome, asking for assistance, presumably against his rivals, one of whom may have been Cunobelin Cunobelin may well have been a tribal leader of the Catuvellauni, whose land lay to the west of Essex, centred on Hertfordshire and Verulamium (St Albans). Coming to power about AD 10, possibly replacing Dubnovellaunus, he ruled over the unified territories of the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes, from his stronghold at Camulodunum. It was his death in AD 40, and the subsequent weakened position of his sons, that gave Claudius the opportunity to implement the invasion of Britain in AD 43. He was easily the most powerful of the Celtic kings of the south-east of Britain, and probably held sway over a substantial part of the land, and over several tribes Numismatic importance In the opinion of Jonathan Williams, from the Department of Coins & Medals at the British Museum, this is an extremely important group of coins for a number of reasons. The hoard consists of coins of two different types of coin belonging to two different kings. There are eighteen examples of a previously very rare type of coin of Cunobelin. There are only three coins of this type in the British Museum collection, and 21 others recorded in the Celtic Coin Index in Oxford. This find thus doubles the number of these coins that have thus far been discovered. The combination of the coins of these two rulers in what seems to be a single hoard is vital evidence for the relative dating of these undated coins. In the 7

8 context of other finds, this hoard seems to suggest that Dubnovellaunos coins were in circulation during the earlier part of Cunobelin s reign, and perhaps that Cunobelin succeeded to Dubnovellaunos position, or that they overlapped. Different obverse and reverse dies within the 18 Cunobelin coins have been identified, and these are important for assessing both the chronological typology of coins issued by Cunobelin, and the processes of Iron Age coin minting and circulation Interpretation of the Hoard. The high quality of the coins striking enables two more elements to be discussed firstly the Iron Age use of the chariot (a Television Programme was recently screened which followed the reconstruction of one); and the concept of literacy, that the tribal leaders names are inscribed on the coins, as well as the placename, Camulodunum. Colchester is marketed on its town signs as the earliest recorded town in Britain this will help people understand why. 8