The Cheste hoard () is an Iberian hoard discovered near the town of

Cheste Cheste (Valencian: Xest) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Hoya de Buñol in the Valencian Community, Spain, located 26 km from the capital Valencia. History According to the Valencian historian Escolano, the first settlers of the ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain, in 1864. Dating to about 200 BCE, the hoard was found buried in two pots and contained gold jewellery, silver coins and silver ingots. It is currently held in the Valencia History Museum. The jewellery consists of a necklace, three pendants and a ''fibula'' (brooch), all made from gold. The fibula is of particular interest because it is decorated with a human head in the style of the

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defi ...

, associated with the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

, showing Celtic or Celtiberian influence on the Iberian societies of the east coast of the peninsula. The hoard also included forty eight silver coins, including twenty two of Hispano-Punic origin, five local Iberian coins, three from Emporion, two from

Massilia Massalia (Greek: Μασσαλία; Latin: Massilia; modern Marseille) was an ancient Greek colony founded ca. 600 BC on the Mediterranean coast of present-day France, east of the river Rhône, by Ionian Greek settlers from Phocaea, in Western An ...

, and one from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The Hispano-Punic coins were some of the last issued by the

Barcids The Barcid ( phn, 𐤁𐤓𐤒, baraq) family was a notable family in the ancient city of Carthage; many of its members were fierce enemies of the Roman Republic. "Barcid" is an adjectival form coined by historians (''cf.'' " Ramesside" and "Abb ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

(including one depicting Hannibal), whilst the Roman coin is an early ''

denarius The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

.'' These imply the hoard was buried around the time of, or shortly after, the Second Punic War. The diverse mix of coins found at Cheste and similar hoards may reflect Rome and Carthage's need for large amounts of coinage to pay mercenaries, who often switched sides over the course of the war. The silver ingots are ''hacksilber'': cut or melted pieces of silver that were used as bullion and commonly found in Iberian hoards from this period. Unlike coinage, hacksilber was not controlled by the state, and could also be used in smaller transactions than the larger denomination coins in circulation. It was also used by silversmiths.

References

External links

{{commons category, Treasure of Cheste
Historia de Cheste
Ayuntamiento de Cheste (in Spanish) Archaeology of Spain Treasure troves of Spain Treasure troves of classical antiquity Iberian art 1864 archaeological discoveries Ancient art in metal Hoards of jewellery