The Shapwick Hoard is a hoard

Hoard

In archaeology, a hoard is a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards may be uncovered by...

 of 9,262 Roman coins

Roman currency

The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the as...

 found at Shapwick

Shapwick, Somerset

Shapwick is a village on the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It is situated to the west of Glastonbury.-History:Shapwick is the site of one end of the Sweet Track, an ancient causeway dating from the 39th century BC....

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in September, 1998. The coins dated from as early as 31–30 BC up until 224 AD. The hoard also notably contained two rare coins which had not been discovered in Britain before, and the largest number of silver denarii

Denarius

In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...

 ever found in Britain.

Discovery, excavation and valuation

The hoard was discovered by cousins Kevin and Martin Elliott, who were amateur metal detectorists

Metal detector

A metal detector is a device which responds to metal that may not be readily apparent.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...

, in a field at Shapwick. Excavation of the site found that it had been "buried in the corner of a room of a previously unknown Roman building" and, after further excavation and geophysical survey

Geophysical survey

Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Geophysical surveys may use a great variety of sensing instruments, and data may be collected from above or below the Earth's surface or from aerial or marine platforms. Geophysical surveys have many...

ing, "revealed the room to be part of a courtyard villa".

Following a treasure inquest at Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

, the hoard was declared treasure

Treasure trove

A treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the heirs undiscoverable...

 and valued at £265,000. Somerset County Museum Services acquired the hoard, with the aid of Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council

Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

, the National Heritage Memorial Fund

National Heritage Memorial Fund

The National Heritage Memorial Fund is a non-departmental public body set up under the National Heritage Act 1980 in memory of people who gave their lives for the United Kingdom....

, and other organisations, and it is now displayed at the Somerset County Museum

Somerset County Museum

The Museum of Somerset is located in the 12th century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton in the county of Somerset, England. The museum is run by Somerset County Council and includes objects initially collected by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society who own the...

 in the grounds of Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle

Taunton Castle is a castle built to defend the town of Taunton, Somerset, England.It has origins in the Anglo Saxon period and was later the site of a priory. The Normans then built a stone structured castle, which belonged to the Bishops of Winchester...

.

An addendum

Addendum

An addendum, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its reader subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the Latin verbal phrase addendum est, being the gerundive form of the verb addo, addere, addidi, additum, "to give to, add to", meaning " must be added"...

 to the discovery was filed in the Treasure Annual Report 2000 which added a further 23 coins, valued at £690, also found by Kevin and Martin Elliott.

Items discovered

Notable inclusions in the hoard were 260 coins from the reign of Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

 from 31–30 BC, with over half the coins being struck in the reign of Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

 (193–211). There were also two rare coins not discovered in Britain before depicting Manlia Scantilla

Manlia Scantilla

Manlia Scantilla was a Roman woman who lived in the 2nd century. She was very briefly Roman Empress as wife to the Roman Emperor Didius Julianus...

, the wife of Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus , was Roman Emperor for three months during the year 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197...

, an emperor who was murdered four weeks after the coins were struck. Non-Roman coins included were three Lycia

Lycia

Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...

n drachmae and one drachma of Caesarea in Cappadocia. The latest coin struck was in 224 AD, and it is estimated that the hoard as a whole represented ten years' pay for a Roman legionary

Legionary

The Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizens under the age of 45. They enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign...

.

Reign	Date	№ of coins
Mark Antony Mark Antony Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...	31 BC	260
Nero Nero Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....	54–68	44
Galba Galba Galba , was Roman Emperor for seven months from 68 to 69. Galba was the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and made a bid for the throne during the rebellion of Julius Vindex...	68–69	12
Otho Otho Otho , was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.- Birth and lineage :...	69	9
Vitellius Vitellius Vitellius , was Roman Emperor for eight months, from 16 April to 22 December 69. Vitellius was acclaimed Emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors...	69	30
Vespasian Vespasian Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...	69–79	548
Titus Titus Titus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....	79–81	69
Domitian Domitian Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...	81–96	21
Nerva Nerva Nerva , was Roman Emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became Emperor at the age of sixty-five, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the rulers of the Flavian dynasty. Under Nero, he was a member of the imperial entourage and played a vital part in exposing the Pisonian conspiracy of 65...	96–98	12
Trajan Trajan Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...	98–117	91
Hadrian Hadrian Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...	117–138	117
Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...	138–161	567
Marcus Aurelius	161–180	171
Commodus Commodus Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...	180–192	356
Septimius Severus Septimius Severus Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...	193–211	5,741
Caracalla Caracalla Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...	198–217	345
Macrinus Macrinus Macrinus , was Roman Emperor from 217 to 218. Macrinus was of "Moorish" descent and the first emperor to become so without membership in the senatorial class.-Background and career:...	217–218	61
Elagabalus Elagabalus Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...	218–222	688
Severus Alexander Alexander Severus Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty...	222–235	120

Other hoards

Shapwick has been the site of various hoard discoveries over the years, although the 1998 find was by far the largest.

• In 1868, fourteen coins from 306–361 were found in the Shapwick turbary
  Turbary
  Turbary is the term used to describe the ancient right to cut turf, or peat, for fuel on a particular area of bog. The word may also be used to describe the associated piece of bog or peatland and, by extension, the material extracted from the turbary...
  
   and given to Glastonbury Museum in 1948.

• Between 1936 and 1938, four hoards were found in close proximity to each other:
  • Hoard A: a pewter
    Pewter
    Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C ,...
    
     cup, containing a pottery beaker of 120 mid-fourth to early-fifth century silver siliqua
    Siliqua
    The siliqua is the modern name given to small, thin, Roman silver coins produced from 4th century and later. When the coins were in circulation, the Latin word siliqua was a unit of weight defined as one-twentyfourth of the weight of a Roman solidus .The term siliqua comes from the siliqua graeca,...
    
    e, along with a pewter saucer and platter
  • Hoard B: a pottery beaker inside a pewter jug containing 125 silver siliquae from the same era as Hoard A
  • Hoard C: a pewter canister containing around 1,170 bronze coins from 320–390, mostly of Valentinian dynasty
    Valentinian Dynasty
    The Valentinian Dynasty or Valentinianic Dynasty, consisting of four emperors, ruled the Western Roman Empire from 364 to 392 and the Eastern Roman Empire from 364 to 378.*western emperors:**Valentinian I...
    
     (364–375)
  • Hoard D: a bronze cased wooden stave tankard
    Tankard
    A tankard is a form of drinkware consisting of a large, roughly cylindrical, drinking cup with a single handle. Tankards are usually made of silver, pewter, or glass, but can be made of other materials, for example wood, ceramic or leather. A tankard may have a hinged lid, and tankards featuring...
    
    ; a pewter bowl with pedestal; a bronze bowl. Estimated late fourth century

• In 1978, over 1,000 copper coins from 305–423 were found in a pewter vessel.