#sutton hoo

So this is a coin from the reign of the Roman Emperor Honorius, who's quite an interesting figure in himself. He's the one who brought Roman rule in Britain to an official end, as the native Britons* had appealed for help to repel the Celts and the Picts (of Wales and Scotland) who, after the Romans had pulled back all their soldiers to deal with wider Empire problems, spotted that England was Free Real Estate and started helping themselves. Honorius, presumably more worried about problems closer to home and having already thought he was done with Britain, sent a letter back stating that the Britons* should look to their own defence. Roman rule was officially over (which left the Britons in a tight spot as, per my tour guide, they hadn't been allowed to own weapons under the Romans - but that's another story).

*Mostly in England, I think, and not really a cohesive group - more like a loose collection of tribes and communities that had been reduced to more or less Do What The Romans Say Or Else over the years

Anyway, because of this being a coin of Honorius, we can pretty conclusively date it to the late 4th-early 5th century. There's some wear on the coin, suggesting it didn't go into the ground fresh from the mint. There's also some (but less) wear on the frame around it, which is believed to be a later addition to allow it to be strung as a pendant**. And the archaeological context in which it was found backs that chronology up, because as I stated a million years ago near the start of the post, it was found in an Anglo-Saxon grave. That's from around the 7th century. Which means someone in the 600s AD (ish) was cremated with it (which might explain the molten-looking protrusion on the edge) or it was added to their grave when their ashes were buried. An Anglo-Saxon was wearing a centuries-old coin as jewellery, and it was obviously important enough to them to be a grave good.

**Obligatory reminder that we're interpreting the archaeology here, and it could have been sewn onto clothing or a saddle or hung from something as a tiny decoration - but it looks like a pendant, doesn't it? Sometimes that's the best you can do.

Why is this my absolute favourite, though? Well. When I was a kid in the 90s, I went to a hell of a lot of museums and castles. And what would you find in the gift shops?

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