The Heslington Hoard is a

coin hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention o ...

found in York, England, dating from the mid-4th century AD. It consisted of approximately 2,800 coins held within a pottery container. It was acquired by the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

Discovery

The hoard was found by on 1 March 1966 at

Heslington Heslington is a suburban village and civil parish within the City of York district, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, south-east of the centre of York. Before 1974, it was a village in the Derwent Rural District, which was pa ...

, York during excavations in advance of the construction of 'College 3' on the campus of the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

More than half of the hoard is composed of contemporary copies of coins, and 1,158 may be regarded as true issues. Apart from two third-century silver coins – one of

Tetricus I Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was the emperor of the Gallic Empire from 271 to 274 AD. He was originally the (governor) of Gallia Aquitania and became emperor after the murder of Emperor Victorinus in 271, with the support of Victorinus's mother, ...

and one of

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

– the remainder are copper coins from the 4th century. Various Emperors from the

Constantinian dynasty The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of the Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus (died 306) to the death of Julian in 363. It is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great, who became the sole rule ...

are depicted on the coinage. The two latest dated coins are of the Emperor Julian and the hoard is considered to have been sealed and deposited shortly after AD 355.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heslington Hoard 1966 in England 1966 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in North Yorkshire Collections of the Yorkshire Museum Treasure troves of Roman Britain Treasure troves in England Hoards from Roman Britain

Discovery

Contents

References