Unit11-Part1-Reading

Hoxney Hoard. Peter Wutling was a tenant farmer in the village of Hoxney in Suffolk, England.

On November 16, 1992, when he was looking for his lost hammer, he asked his friend Eric

Lawes to help him find it. Eric Lawes was a retired gardener who was interested in treasure

hunting using his metal detector. While Lawes was searching the field with it, he found

in the ground. After they recovered a few items, Lawes and Wutling reported the find to the landowners

and the police. They did not attempt to dig out any more objects.

The next day, the Archaeological Unit of Suffolk sent a team of archaeologists to carry

out an excavation of the site. The archaeologists excavated the entire Hoard in a single day.

The treasure was buried in a small chest, and the items were sorted by type, with some

in small wooden boxes and others in fabric bags. The coins were from 407 AD, the year

when Roman rule in Britain ended. The find was the largest Roman Hoard ever found until

then. It consisted of 14 ,865 Roman gold and silver coins from the 4th to 5th centuries,

and nearly 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewelry, such as rings and necklaces.

The treasure might have been owned by a very wealthy family who buried it as they were fleeing

their home. They probably planned to recover it later. The treasure committee valued the

Hoard at 1 .75 million pounds. This amount was rewarded to the two finders, who divided

it between themselves equally. The objects are now exhibited in the British Museum.