An
astonishing hoard of Roman coins found in Bath is beginning to scrub up well.
Experts at the
British Museum are preserving and analysing the collection, one of the biggest
ever found in Britain. They were discovered during an archaeological dig at the
site of work on the Gainsborough Hotel, in Beau Street. It is estimated that
there are at least 25,000 coins, many of them silver denarii dating from 32BC
until 270AD. A Roman soldier would have been paid 600 denarii a year.
Most
of the coins are fused together in a large block, making identification and
counting difficult.
City MP Don Foster,
who has visited the museum team, said: "Some of the coins are in near mint
condition and fine details like the hair of the emperor or his wife can easily
be seen. It was simply staggering to hold a handful of these coins from around
2,000 years ago.
"I had it all
explained to me, and what is wonderful is that we are hoping to get all this
information displayed alongside the coins in Bath.
"This will
make the Roman times come alive, with people being able to find out more."
Some of the coins,
known as the Beau Street Hoard, were found in a stone-lined box although it is
thought they were originally in six separate leather bags.
It is being
described as one of the five largest hoards ever found and the largest from a
single Roman settlement.
Head of portable
antiquities and treasure at the museum Dr Roger Bland said: "This is one
of the largest and most important hoards of Roman coins to have been found in
Britain in recent years. Thanks to an x-ray taken by Southampton University we
were able to see that we had at least six separate bags of coins and these are
now being conserved at the British Museum.
"It is early
days in our study of the hoard, which will probably take
three years, but we believe there are more than 25,000 coins and, from the
coins that have been cleaned so far, we know that they cover a very long time
span of 300 years.
"There will
be many more secrets to emerge from this fascinating hoard as the conservation
continues."Source
