More coin hoards have been recorded from Roman Britain than from any other province of the Empire. This comprehensive and lavishly illustrated volume provides a survey of over 3260 hoards of Iron Age and Roman coins found in England and Wales with a detailed analysis and discussion.Theories of hoarding and deposition and examined, national and regional patterns in the landscape settings of coin hoards presented, together with an analysis of those hoards whose findspots were surveyed and of those hoards found in archaeological excavations. It also includes an unprecedented examination of the containers in which coin hoards were buried and the objects found with them. The patterns of hoarding in Britain from the late 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD are discussed. The volume also provides a survey of Britain in the 3rd century AD, as a peak of over 700 hoards are known from the period from AD 253–296. This has been a particular focus of the project which has been a collaborative research project between the University of Leicester and the British Museum funded by the AHRC. The aim has been to understand the reasons behind the burial and non-recovery of these finds. A comprehensive online database (https://finds.org.uk/database) underpins the project, which also undertook a comprehensive GIS analysis of all the hoards and field surveys of a sample of them.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1. Introduction
  • The origins of the project
  • The context of current research into hoards
  • Investigating coin hoards
  • Research questions
  • Methodology
  • Archaeological and historical background
  • This volume
• Chapter 2. Overview and analysis of the dataset of coin hoards
  • Introduction
  • The dataset
  • Chronological distribution of hoards
  • Regional variation in the chronological distribution of hoards
  • Hoard contents
  • Summary
• Chapter 3. Approaching hoarding and deposition
  • Introduction
  • Iron Age and Roman coin hoard studies in perspective
  • Prevailing economic and ritual perspectives
  • Archaeological approaches to hoarding and deposition
  • The meaning of coinage
  • Value and materiality
  • Processes of hoarding
  • Why were hoards not recovered?
  • Summary
• Chapter 4. National and regional patterns in the landscape settings of coin hoards
  • Introduction
  • Constraints and affordances on the dataset
  • Methodology and scales of analysis
  • Results: National overview
  • Results: The IARCH study areas
  • Discussion: Hoarding in the landscape
• Chapter 5. Hoards and their archaeological contexts
  • Introduction
  • Types of archaeological sites on which hoards have been found
  • Military sites
  • Towns
  • Rural settlements and villas
  • Religious and funerary sites
  • Hillforts and earlier monuments
  • Other categories and uncertain sites
  • Rivers and watery contexts
  • Archaeological contexts in which hoards are found
  • Discussion
• Chapter 6. Coin hoards as archaeological assemblages: containers and associated artefacts
  • Introduction
  • Hoard containers
  • Multiple containers and deposits
  • Hoards with internal stratigraphy
  • Associated objects, including possible markers
  • Evidence for metalworking and counterfeiting
  • Summary
• Chapter 7. Coin hoards: chronological syntheses
  • Hoarding in the late Iron Age
  • Hoarding in Roman Britain to AD
  • The radiate hoards of AD 238–296
  • Late Roman hoards AD 296–445
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 8. Debating the later third century: crisis or continuity?
  • Introduction
  • Establishing an intellectual context for the ‘third-century crisis’
  • Historical context: the third century
  • Historical narratives and hoarding
  • Towns in the third century: archaeological evidence
  • Military archaeology in the third century
  • Roads and milestones
  • Rural lives
  • Other aspects of the economy
  • Votive deposition and religion
  • Material culture and identity
  • Summary: third-century Britain in archaeology and history
  • Explaining third-century hoards
• Chapter 9. Hoards from Britain in context
  • Introduction
  • Factors governing the discovery and recording of hoards
  • Britain and the Roman world
  • Implications for research and practice
  • In conclusion
• Bibliography