Huge
Iron Age haul of coins found BBC NEWS - Saturday, 17 January
2009
One
of the UK's largest hauls of Iron Age gold coins has been
found in Suffolk.
The
824 so-called staters were found, using a metal detector,
in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market.
Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological
Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15.
They are thought to have been minted by predecessors of the
Iceni Queen Boudicca.
Ms Plouviez said their value when in circulation had been
estimated at a modern equivalent of between £500,000
and £1m, but they were likely to be worth less than
that now.
Wealthy tribes
"It's a good, exciting find. It gives us a lot of new
information about the late Iron Age, and particularly East
Anglia in the late Iron Age.
"The discovery is important because it highlights the
probable political, economic and religious importance of an
area.
"It certainly suggests there was a significant settlement
nearby. As far as we understand, it was occupied by wealthy
tribes or subtribes," she said.
Ms Plouviez said the find was the largest collection of Iron
Age gold coins found in Britain since 1849, when a farm worker
unearthed between 800 and 2,000 gold staters in a field near
Milton Keynes.
Secret excavations
She said secret excavations had been carried out on the latest
find in Suffolk after a man reported it to the council's archaeological
service in October.
The staters, which each weigh about 5g, will now be valued
ahead of a treasure trove inquest.
"We don't know how much they will be worth but it will
be less than they were at the time," said Ms Plouviez.
"After the treasure trove inquest, they will be offered
to museums at their current value."
She said the exact location of the find would not be made
public but added "thorough" searches of the area
had not uncovered any further artefacts.