The Watlington Hoard is a collection of
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
silver, buried in the 870s and rediscovered in
Watlington,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, England in 2015.
Details
The
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 of ...
is made up of silver – 186 coins (some fragmentary), 15
ingots and 7 pieces of jewellery, including arm-rings – and a scrap of gold. It was buried after
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
defeated the
Great Heathen Army led by
Guthrum in 878, forcing the Danes to retreat north.
[; ] The hoard was rediscovered by James Mather, an amateur metal-detectorist, in 2015 and subsequently excavated.
The period in which the hoard was buried saw extensive warfare between the Danish and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and is of considerable interest to historians.
The coins, which were minted by Alfred the Great and
Ceolwulf II, have "the potential to provide important new information on relations between Mercia and Wessex" in the 9th century, according to Gareth Williams, a curator at the British Museum.
Some of the coins show the two kings sitting side by side, in a style known as the "Two Emperors", after Roman coins of the 4th century.
These coins would have been intended to make a statement about political cooperation between the two men.
It was announced in February 2017 that the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
had purchased the hoard for £1.35m, to keep it within the county, with funding from the
National Lottery, the
Art Fund
Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as ...
and local donations.
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
External links
* {{Official website
Entryin 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 ...
database
2015 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological sites in Oxfordshire
History of Oxfordshire
Hoards of jewellery
Metal detecting finds in England
Treasure troves in England
2015 in England
Silver coins
Watlington, Oxfordshire