The Muddy Hoard is a
Roman British 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
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, dating to approximately the year 274, during the joint reign of
Tetricus I, and his son,
Tetricus II of the
Gallic Empire
The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned ''de facto'' as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, w ...
, a breakaway state of the
Roman Empire during the reign of
Aurelian
Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited t ...
.
It is considered by far the largest coin hoard in
Cambridgeshire County,
England.
Declared "Treasure" under the Coroner's Inquest on November 11, 2021, it is exhibited at the Norris Museum in
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a market town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England, east of Huntingdon and north-west of Cambridge. St Ives is historically in the historic county of
Huntingdonshire.
History
The township ...
from September 16, 2023, temporarily for six months, until the museum acquires enough funding for its permanent acquisition.
Discovery
On April 30, 2018, a
metal detectorist in the town of
Huntingdon, was searching on private land under the permission of the landowner, where he unearthed a
copper-alloy
Copper alloys are metal alloys that have copper as their principal component. They have high resistance against corrosion. The best known traditional types are bronze, where tin is a significant addition, and brass, using zinc instead. Both of t ...
coin. After a few more coins emerged from the ground, the detectorist covered up the find to report it under the
Portable Antiquities Scheme
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme begun in 1997 and now covers m ...
, whereupon the find liaison officer of
Cambridgeshire, Helen Fowler, and Dr. Andrew Brown of the
British Museum conducted a two-day excavation of the hoard.
Under the PAS, it is designated
CAM-A0ECFB under Treasure Tracking Number 2018T317.
Description
The hoard is considered partially disturbed, and was initially discovered scattered out.
It is composed of two
ceramic vessels, one inside another, nestled like
matryoshka dolls. The outer vessel was a coarse, grey ware vessel, the inner pot made of dark gray, finer clay. It was determined that with the weight of the coins that the inner pot cracked, requiring the addition of the outer pot to contain rest of the stash. The hoard itself was otherwise mostly intact, with no indicating archaeological features surrounding the land.
After separation of the coins at the British Museum, it was determined to be made of 9724
Roman coins, a mixture of
Antoninianii,
Barbarous radiates, and 3
denarii, including an unrecorded denarius variant of Tetricus I.
The hoard has a high proportion of radiates, which were made during the short supply of official coinage and turbulence of the Gallic Empire, a result of the
Crisis of the Third Century. By the time the hoard was buried, Tetricus I surrendered to Aurelian, who then reunited the Roman Empire.
The hoard contains the coinage portraiture of 14 Emperors and 1 Empress.
References
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Treasure troves in England
Treasure troves of Roman Britain
History of Cambridgeshire
Huntingdonshire
2018 archaeological discoveries
Metal detecting finds in England
Hoards from Roman Britain
Coin hoards
Crisis of the Third Century