12:40pm Tuesday 9th March 2010
THE society resumed its monthly meetings on February 11, following the enforced break due to bad weather in January, with a lecture by Richard Hobbs of the British Museum on the subject of ‘Treasures in Late Roman Britain’.
He explained that Roman treasure hoards found on the Continent are generally of an earlier period than those found in south-east Britain which quite possibly reflects a shift in the balance of wealth distribution away from territory south-west of the Rhine that had become increasingly insecure due to Frankish attacks during the third century AD.
The lecture began with a description of the Mildenhall Treasure which consists of a unique silverware hoard of superbly worked bowls, dishes, ladles and spoons.
Although undoubtedly late Roman, the passage of time since its ‘chance find’ by a Suffolk ploughman in 1942 has meant that satisfactory resolution of the uncertainties surrounding the discovery is unlikely.
The remoteness of the find spot from an important Roman site and the absence of coin, which would provide earliest possible dating evidence, continue to support the arguments of sceptics.
Also from Suffolk, and found by chance but in well-established circumstances in 1992 (someone was looking for a lost hammer!) came the Hoxne hoard.
This consists of gold jewellery and silverware but crucially with some 15,000 coins allowing reliable dating of the deposit to the 5th century AD at about the time of the withdrawal of the Roman legions.
The lecture concluded with brief reference to the South Staffordshire hoard discovered last year which may prove to be as important for understanding the succeeding Anglo-Saxon period as the treasure hoards of Mildenhall and Hoxne are for that of the Roman.
Members continue to participate in clearance work at Basing House, where excavations are planned to resume for two weeks in May, and in fieldwork in north Hampshire. Matters of local interest continue to be researched for the Victoria County History project.
The next meeting of the Society will be held at Church Cottage Basingstoke on Thursday, when palaeontologist Andrew Lawson, currently unit director of the Trust for Wessex Archaeology, will make ‘The Earliest Art of Europe’ the lecture.
Non-members are welcome to attend.
Admission charge is £2.
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