TOT Roman finger ring WMID-63F643 This in an example of a ‘TOT ring’ which are thought to represent the Celtic god Toutatis (Totatis), with T O T being an abbreviation of the gods name. In the French comic, Asterix, the oath “By Toutatis!” is often uttered by Asterix the Gaul! However, these rings are mainly …more
Category: Roman
Treasure 20 Harborough – Hallaton Hoard
The Hallaton Hoard PAS-984616 In 2001 one of the most important archaeological finds of the Late Iron Age in Britain was discovered near Hallaton, Leicestershire. The find became known as the Hallaton Treasure and was excavated by a group of dedicated amateur archaeologists, the Hallaton Fieldwork Group and professionals from University of Leicester …more
The other Bosworth (part 6 – Excavation)
Given the impressive geophysical results and the possibility of buried archaeology, we decided we needed to have a look under the surface. I recruited the help of Dr Julia Farley (then working at Leicester University) who obtained funding from the Roman Society, Roman Research Trust and the Association for Roman Archaeology. This allowed us to undertake a …more
The other Bosworth (part 5 -letting people know)
Having realised that we had a large and internationally important assemblage, we wanted to get it published. Because it was not a priority for the Battlefield Survey, I took up the baton (excuse the pun!). After discussing with colleagues it was agreed that the PAS database was a good place to record the site, as …more
The other Bosworth (part 4 -The horse and riders)
Some of our deposits could be associated with a god favoured by the military, especially the horse and rider plate brooches we were finding in large numbers. Before the survey started, we had 6 of these, already significant as the largest assemblage ever found was 8. By 2009 we had 73 ‘horse and rider’ brooches …more
The other Bosworth (part 3 the Roman Army)
Along with the coins (part 2) another major part of the assemblage was a really interesting collection of brooches. In total 216 brooches were recovered. During the survey I arranged an open day to view what we’d found. This included local interest groups, councillors and finds specialists as we needed some expert advice. One of …more
The other Bosworth (part 2 – the coins)
Among the substantial assemblage of Roman material found by our dedicated volunteer detectorists was a large collection of Roman coins. By the end over 800 had been recovered, I helped to identify what I could, but I had to call in the cavalry in the form of PAS advisors Dr Sam Moorhead and Dr Philippa …more
The other Bosworth (part 1 introduction)
In this series of 6 short blogs I am going to tell the story of what happens when you go looking for a medieval battlefield! The Bosworth Battlefield Survey, which ran for 4 years from 2005, was a major HLF funded project to locate the famous battle. It was very successful, but along the way, as is …more
Identifying the Glorious World of Roman Coins
On 30th October 2015, I attended Sam Moorhead’s course on identification of 4th Century Roman nummi at the British Museum. Sam Moorhead is the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s (PAS) National Finds Adviser for Iron Age and Roman coins based at the Museum. I now have three such courses under my belt including radiate training and the …more
South Leicestershire Coin Hoard
In 2008 a Roman copper-alloy radiate coin hoard (LEIC-BFD867) of around 7,000 coins contained in a greyware storage jar was found in south Leicestershire. The coins range in date from AD 230s-290s, a time of great political upheaval in the Roman world, as is demonstrated by the plethora of rulers represented in the sample in what …more
