(Taken from Burnett and Bland 118)
The Oliver's Orchard Hoards
In 1983, three Roman coin hoards were discovered in Oliver's Orchard, near Colchester in Essex, England (Burnett and Bland 65). These hoards were discovered by a local farmer and were excavated by professional archaeologists. The hoard's close spatial and temporal associations seem to indicate that they were placed there by the same individual or family.
The three hoards all were likely deposited around the end of the Gallic Empire. Hoard I has a terminal date (terminus post quem, or TPQ) of 269 C.E., since the latest coins are one of the last issues of Postumus (Bland and Carradice 65). Hoards II and III contain late coins of Tetricus, suggesting that they were buried near the end or just after the end of his reign. Hoards II and III have terminal dates of 273 and 274, respectively. The coins in Hoard II were arranged in an interesting way.
Coin Counts of Hoards By Emperor
The map below shows the hoards' location in relation to the contemporary Roman settlement of Gosbecks. Gosbecks was an agricultural center in pre-Roman Britain (See heading Colchester). The location of the hoards is marked by the red X in the lower right area of the map.
(Taken from Burnett and Bland 118)
Created by Michael Freedman-Schnapp
A project for ARTH 491: Roman Art
University of Virginia; Charlottesville, Virginia.
Last updated April 25, 2001.