The Roman Rural Settlement Project

Coins and Brooches from the east of England: preliminary results

Dr Tom Brindle

Percentage of sites with

coins 56%

Percentage of sites without

coins 44%

Proportions of sites with and without coins

Percentage of sites

with brooches

41%

Percentage of sites without

brooches 59%

Proportions of sites with and without brooches

Percentage of sites with brooches but

not coins 8% Percentage of sites

with coins but not brooches

21%

Percentage of sites with coins and

brooches 34%

Percentage of sites with neither coins

nor brooches 37%

Proportions of sites with coins and brooches

2.96%

6.21%

82.25%

8.58%

Sites where coinswere present butunquantified

Sites with coins butno datinginformation

Sites with coinswith preciseidentifications

Sites with onlybroad datinginformation

Sites with brooches listed

but not quantified

2%

Sites with quantification of brooches

98%

Distribution of sites which produced coins (red dots) and sites with no coins (yellow dots)

Distribution of sites which produced brooches (red dots) and sites with no brooches (yellow dots)

0

50

100

150

Density of coins by area investigated

Beds

Cambs

Essex

Herts

Norfolk

0204060

Density of coins by area investigated, minus prolific sites in

Suffolk and Norfolk

Beds

Cambs

Essex

Herts

02000400060008000

1000012000

Number of coins by county

Beds

Cambs

Essex

Herts

Norfolk

Suffolk

Beds 6%

Cambs 29%

Essex 22% Herts

14%

Norfolk 17%

Suffolk 12%

Percentage of coins by county

0200400600800

1000

Number of brooches by county

Bedfordshire

Cambridgeshire

Essex

Hertfordshire

Norfolk

Suffolk

Beds 9%

Cambs 17%

Essex 31%

Herts

Norfolk 10%

Suffolk 13%

Percentage of all brooches by county

02468

10

Density of brooches by area excavated

Bedfordshire

Cambridgeshire

Essex

Hertfordshire

Norfolk

Suffolk

012345

Density of brooches by area excavated, minus Hacheston

Bedfordshire

Cambridgeshire

Essex

Hertfordshire

Norfolk

Suffolk

Childerley gate (Site 5), hoard

Hacheston, metal detecting

Boxfield Farm, Chells, Stevenage, hoard

Number of coins recovered from individual sites shown against area of investigation (x-axis)

Baldock

Hacheston, metal detecting

Puckeridge -Braughing

Sandy, metal detecting

Skeleton Green

Number of brooches recovered from individual sites shown against area of investigation (x-axis)

Sites with coins

Average area of investigation 2.02ha

Sites without coins

Average area of investigation 0.85ha

Sites with brooches

Average area of investigation 2.35ha

Sites without brooches

Average area of investigation 0.9ha

Excavation 86%

Evaluation 12%

Watching Brief 2%

Excavation 63%

Evaluation 32%

Watching Brief 5%

Excavation 90%

Evaluation 9%

Watching Brief 1%

Excavation 65%

Evaluation 30%

Watching Brief 5%

The impact of controlled metal detector use on archaeological sites

• At least 30.59% of all coins and 19.23% of all brooches were found on sites where a metal detector had been used

• Of 11 sites with over 1000 coins 5, (45.5%), had a metal detector used on them

• Of 16 sites with over 40 brooches 5, (31.25%), had a metal detector used on them

Kernel density of area of Investigation (hectares)

Densities of Roman coins from archaeological investigations and those recorded by PAS

Kernel density of combined excavated and PAS coins

Densities of Roman brooches from archaeological investigations and those recorded by PAS

Kernel density of combined excavated and PAS brooches

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Nucleated settlement

Rural settlement

Religious ritual and funerary

Industry

Military

Rural landscape

Communications

Percentage of all coins arranged by site type major

Distribution of coins and nucleated sites (unwalled ‘small towns’ and villages)

Distribution of brooches and nucleated sites (unwalled ‘small towns’ and villages)

Distribution of sites with late Iron Age coins Distribution of sites with 1st century coins

Distribution of sites with 2nd century coins

Distribution of sites with late Roman coins

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

Gorhambury

Richard ReeceBritish Mean

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

Gadebridge Park

Richard ReeceBritish Mean

Villa

0

100

200

300

400

500

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22

Boxfield Farm,Chells,Stevenage

Richard ReeceBritish Mean

Farm

0

200

400

600

800

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

Land Adjacent toBeech HouseHospital, Exning

Richard ReeceBritish Mean

Farm

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

Caistor StEdmund temple

Richard ReeceBritish Mean

Temple

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

HaddenhamRoman shrine

Richard ReeceBritish Mean

Shrine

Villa

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%kn

ote

nfi

bel

lan

gto

n_d

…co

lch

este

rn

auh

eim

_…h

od

_hill

earl

y_p

late

hea

dst

ud

ho

rse_

rid

ertu

tulu

scr

oss

bo

wu

ncl

assi

fied

Cambridgeshire

knotenfibel

la_tene

nauheim

langton_down

thistle_rosette

eye

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

kno

ten

fib

el

lan

gto

n_d

…

colc

hes

ter

nau

hei

m_…

ho

d_h

ill

earl

y_p

late

hea

dst

ud

ho

rse_

rid

er

tutu

lus

cro

ssb

ow

un

clas

sifi

ed

Hertfordshire

knotenfibel

la_tene

nauheim

langton_down

thistle_rosette

eye

colchester

0.00%5.00%

10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%

kno

ten

fib

el

lan

gto

n_d

…

colc

hes

ter

nau

hei

m_…

ho

d_h

ill

earl

y_p

late

hea

dst

ud

ho

rse_

rid

er

tutu

lus

cro

ssb

ow

un

clas

sifi

ed

Bedfordshire

knotenfibel

la_tene

nauheim

langton_down

thistle_rosette

eye

colchester

0.00%5.00%

10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%

kno

ten

fib

el

lan

gto

n_d

…

colc

hes

ter

nau

hei

m_…

ho

d_h

ill

earl

y_p

late

hea

dst

ud

ho

rse_

rid

er

tutu

lus

cro

ssb

ow

un

clas

sifi

ed

Essex

knotenfibel

la_tene

nauheim

langton_down

thistle_rosette

eye

colchester

0.00%5.00%

10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%30.00%35.00%

kno

ten

fib

el

lan

gto

n_d

…

colc

hes

ter

nau

hei

m_…

ho

d_h

ill

earl

y_p

late

hea

dst

ud

ho

rse_

rid

er

tutu

lus

cro

ssb

ow

un

clas

sifi

ed

Suffolk

knotenfibel

la_tene

nauheim

langton_down

thistle_rosette

eye

colchester

0.00%5.00%

10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%

kno

ten

fib

el

lan

gto

n_d

…

colc

hes

ter

nau

hei

m_…

ho

d_h

ill

earl

y_p

late

hea

dst

ud

ho

rse_

rid

er

tutu

lus

cro

ssb

ow

un

clas

sifi

ed

Norfolk

knotenfibel

la_tene

nauheim

langton_down

thistle_rosette

eye

colchester

• Coins and brooches are far from ubiquitous finds at sites in eastern England

• This clearly in large part reflects the area of investigation and the investigation strategy

• Unsurprisingly, greater quantities of coins and brooches are recovered from nucleated settlements, although this may in part also reflect a disproportionate amount of investigation undertaken at these sites

• Coin profiles from sites in the east of England are very variable, and it is not easy to recognise ‘footprints’ for particular sites based upon their coin profiles alone

• Whilst there is a broad regional pattern in terms of the distribution of different brooch types there is intra-regional variation

• Analysis of patterns of coin and brooch loss will undoubtedly prove more beneficial when the results from several regions are compared

Conclusions