The impressive heap of gold coins dates from the early Middle Ages. About a hundred Frankish trémissis, a few Byzantine solidi bearing the effigy of Emperor Justinian and his successors, a bracteate adorned with an animal paw and three elements of an ancient luxury adornment: the monetary treasure unearthed in the west from Norflok, UK, has something to impress. Not content with forming one of the most copious sumptuary discoveries on the British island, its 131 pieces with tanned obverse and illustrious effigies would constitute the most important treasure dating particularly from the Anglo-Saxon era. A laudatory title for an archaeological jackpot unearthed by a detectorist.
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The lucky discoverer, who on his own initiative handed over the priceless remains to local authorities, said he unearthed all of the pieces between 2014 and 2020, in a field in the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. Under British law, this amateur archaeologist, who wishes to remain anonymous, should be rewarded by the state for his discovery, at the level of the market price of the exhumed objects. The treasure, which should soon join the collections of Norwich Castle, was not, however, taken out of the ground by a single person. Ten coins, collected in the same Norfolkais field, were also unearthed by a second individual. Keeping his finds a secret, the man, a police officer, was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to 16 monthsimprisonment for trying to sell his gold coins. An adventurous illicit escape that would have saved him from sharing the sum with the owner of the land.
A bracteate (a monetary medal) and several Byzantine solidus (gold coins) were part of the treasury of coins considered today as the most important of the Anglo-Saxon era. British Museum
As substantial as it is, the resounding and stumbling value of this treasure discovered in the west of Norflok does not, however, rival the heritage and historical value of these precious metals.
As a direct consequence of the work of detectorists (amateurs who use their metal detectors), a part that is impossible to estimate has however already disappeared - the precious archaeological context of these objects -, undermined by amateur shovels rather than put in highlighted by the professional tools of seasoned specialists.
As with the rough excavations of past centuries, only the beautiful objects escaped sampling.
An accumulation of gold, in this case.
The riches of the kingdom of East Anglia
Authenticated by the specialized services of the British Museum, the 131 coins of the treasure were dated to around the year 600, according to a statement issued by the museum. The Portable Antiquities Scheme database, which lists discoveries made by individuals, suggests a range rather between 613 and 625. The whole would thus be contemporary with the extraordinary tomb of Sutton Hoo (Suffolk), the best known of the archaeological sites of the Anglo-Saxon period, dated around 620-630. Both treasures are buried underground in Great Britain around the same time, at both ends of the Kingdom of East Anglia over which King Rædwald, the presumed deceased of Sutton Hoo's burial, reigned. A historical and geographical proximity that does nothas not escaped archaeologists.
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"This discovery is of great importance
," said curator Gareth Williams, in charge of early medieval numismatic collections at the British Museum, in a statement.
This treasure dates from the same time as the Sutton Hoo Boat Grave in Suffolk, and although it doesn't contain as much gold as the famous burial, it has many more coins.
By putting it in parallel with other recent discoveries made in East Anglia, it should help transform our understanding of the economics of early Anglo-Saxon England. ”
At first glance, there is little to connect Sutton Hoo's royal treasure with the discovery of Norfolk, other than currency. However, even if the boat tomb buried under a vast tumulus was full of beautiful ornaments and aristocratic weapons, including a magnificent ceremonial helmet, it also kept within it, we often forget, about thirty coins kept in a leather purse. There was a homogeneous group of trémissis (a third of a gold penny, or solidus) struck in Merovingian Gaul, in the workshops of Arles, Metz or even Bordeaux. A much less composite group than the treasure unearthed in Norflolk.
Apart from the hundred coins and the bracteate, the treasure also consisted of a gold ingot and two fragments of ornaments.
The value of the whole was to be measured by its weight, rather than mere cash value.
British Museum
In contrast, according to the details of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, several of the coins unearthed by the detectorist, Byzantine gold coins, were minted in Constantinople.
The tremissis came for their part from various regions of the Merovingian area, from Marseille to Zurich, via Alésia.
As in Sutton Hoo, the absence of local coins is not surprising, since the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were just starting to mint their own currency at the beginning of the 7th century.
However, many coins appear to be almost contemporaneous with the burial of the treasure, with effigies of Emperor Maurice, who died in 602. A boon for historians, who can work on these new remains to shed more light on them. complex trade relations that united the island and the mainland. Information that will certainly not be too much for a period so poorly documented in Anglo-Saxon history - between the end of the Roman occupation, at the beginning of the 5th century, and the beginning of the Viking era, at the end of the 5th century. 8th century - which it has long been referred to as the now obsolete name of the
"Dark Ages".
As to why this treasure was buried in the open countryside, in the west of the kingdom of East Anglia, the investigation is likely to slip forever, for lack of having been able to organize an excavation site at the locality. Only enlightened hypotheses remain.
"Since it was discovered not far from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, the treasure could have been buried in a tumulus, before being gradually dispersed over several centuries of plowing"
, proposed to the BBC the Norfolk numismatist Adrian Marsden.
The same mystery already surrounded the previous monetary set considered, until the discovery of the whole of Norfolk, as the most important of the Anglo-Saxon era.
Buried around 640 and then exhumed in 1828, the Crondall (Hampshire) treasure consisted of 101 coins, minted in the Frankish world, in Friesland, in Constantinople and, already, in England.