Treasures

When a nation is in a state of internal political and financial crisis, is affected by general instability, or runs the risk of being invaded, people are naturally driven to hoard, in the hope of profit or as protection against worse days.

The three treasures on display are three distinct examples.

- Twenty-nine antoniniani are the small fortune that someone buried in the earthen floor of a house, protected by a roof tile.

- A gold solidus and a tremissis were found beside a skeleton at the bottom of the tank of the House attributed to Cantaber. They were an emergency resource, perhaps in a tragically failed attempt to escape.

- The meaning of ten solidi hidden in a clay pot would have been different. It may be assumed that just one of these coins was enough for a person to feed themselves frugally for a year.