__NOTOC__ The Cunetio Hoard, also known as the Mildenhall Hoard,Nigel Kerton
''C4's Time Team dig in at Mildenhall''
at ''gazetteandherald.co.uk'', Friday 4 September 2009 is the largest hoard of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

coins found in Britain. It was discovered in 1978 at the site of the Roman town of Cunetio, near modern-day Mildenhall, Wiltshire, and consisted of 54,951 low value coins. The coins were contained in a large pot and a lead container. The coins are now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and the pot is on display at the

Wiltshire Museum The Wiltshire Museum, formerly known as Wiltshire Heritage Museum and Devizes Museum, is a museum, archive and library and art gallery in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The museum was established and is run by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natu ...

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

Overview

Cunetio developed from a small settlement into an important economic market for the area, which is thought to explain the concentration of coins. Excavation of a nearby well in 1912 uncovered 102 coins, possibly from another hoard. A smaller hoard had been found at this site in 1960. The 1978 hoard consisted of 54,951 coins weighing over . Most of the coins were low value Radiates, however there were significant numbers of Antoniniani, some of which dated from the reign of

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; c. 218 – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empi ...

(253-268). The dates of the coins were between AD 250-275, however the majority are from the independent empire established in

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

Postumus Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin, who ruled as Emperor of the splinter state of the Roman Empire known to modern historians as the Gallic Empire. The Roman army in Gaul threw off its allegiance to Ga ...

in 260. Larger hoards of Roman coins have been found at Misrata in Libya and are believed to have been found at Evreux in France (100,000 coins) and

Komin Komin may refer to: * Komin, Dubrovnik-Neretva County Komin is a small town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia on the river Neretva The Neretva ( sr-cyrl, Неретва, ), also known as Narenta, is one of the largest rivers of the east ...

, Croatia (300,000 coins); however, at the time of its discovery the Cunetio Hoard was by far the largest in Britain. The site of the hoard and the wider settlement were surveyed and excavated for the Channel 4 television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' in 2009.

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External links

Time Team episode on Cunetio
at YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunetio Hoard Treasure troves of late antiquity Treasure troves of Roman Britain History of Wiltshire 1978 in England 1978 archaeological discoveries Treasure troves in England Metal detecting finds in England Hoards from Roman Britain Coin hoards

Overview

See also

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External links