Crisis or continuity? The deposition of metalwork in the Roman world: what do coin hoards tell us about Roman Britain in the 3rd century AD?

囤积有价值的材料，特别是硬币，是整个罗马帝国中一种常见且迅速增长的发现类别。虽然这些通常被认为是为了安全保存而存放的，但对这种活动也有其他解释。很少有明确的讨论或研究表明，为什么罗马人囤积的硬币被埋葬，为什么囤积的硬币在古代没有被找回，或者当作为一个整体进行研究时，它们告诉了我们什么。据了解，英国有600枚藏有公元253-96年的硬币，这是史无前例的集中，它们提供了一个关键的、未被充分利用的数据集，可以揭示一个鲜为人知的英国考古和历史时期。英国3世纪后期的囤积模式与西罗马帝国的其他地方明显不同，尽管此时影响英国的政治问题在欧洲许多其他省份也同样或更严重。这一异常现象值得详细调查，其结果不仅对解释这一特定的囤积现象有影响，而且将有助于更广泛地讨论古时候的囤积行为。传统上，这些囤积被解释为是为了找回而被埋葬的，但最近的发现，如Frome囤积，表明这些囤积可能是仪式(或“誓言”)存款。仪式沉积是史前金属制品的常见解释，还有许多(如果不是全部)铁器时代的硬币囤积。我们能证明3世纪的囤积物中是否有可能是仪式储藏，如果是的话，有多少？如果是的话，它们的内容对研究货币史或政治史有什么影响？我们建议提出以下研究问题：1.为什么在罗马英国囤积硬币--这是出于与其他铁器时代和罗马硬币囤积相似的原因吗？2.为什么在3世纪的英国有这么多的硬币囤积(但没有找回)，他们的埋葬日期与他们最新的硬币的埋葬日期相同吗？3.关于3世纪英国的经济和政治史，硬币囤积告诉我们什么？4.3世纪的英国硬币有什么不同或相似之处从罗马不列颠其他时期或罗马帝国西北省份的其他地区囤积硬币？5.关于使用硬币囤积来理解经济，我们可以学到什么更广泛的教训，罗马帝国的政治和宗教历史？这个项目汇集了大英博物馆在研究罗马钱币和囤积方面的专业知识，莱斯特大学在罗马考古学方面的学术优势，以及他们在风景背景下调查钱币囤积的经验。私人侦探罗杰·布兰德博士是大英博物馆便携文物与珍宝的保管人，拥有非常丰富的研究囤积物的经验；独立专家是科林·哈塞尔格罗夫教授和大卫·马丁利教授，他们分别是铁器时代考古和铸币以及罗马帝国考古和经济方面的主要专家。在他们的集体指导和专家同事的帮助下，3RAS将研究(1)来自不列颠和更广泛的帝国的囤积，(2)公元3世纪罗马不列颠的囤积发现点和考古证据的景观研究；以及(3)铁器时代和罗马时期金属制品的沉积原因。主要成果将包括一本专著，至少5篇同行评议的文章，2次会议(论文将发表)，2次展览，为流行杂志撰写的文章和一个基于网络的囤积数据库。该项目将基于公众的发现并通过便携式文物计划报告，以提供对公元3世纪英国硬币囤积的全面研究，背景更广泛，并将解决与理解其他时期的硬币囤积相关的关键更广泛的问题。

Hoards of valued materials, particularly coins, are a common, and rapidly growing, class of discovery across the Roman Empire. While these are most commonly seen as having been deposited for safe keeping, other explanations for this activity are also possible. There has been little explicit discussion or research on why Roman coin hoards were buried, why hoards were not recovered in antiquity, or what they tell us when studied as a group. Six hundred hoards are known from Britain containing coins of the period AD 253-96, an unprecedented concentration, and they provide a key and under-used dataset that can shed light on a poorly known period of British archaeology and history. The British pattern of later 3rd-century hoards differs markedly from the rest of the western Roman empire, despite the political problems that affected Britain at this time being felt equally or more severely in many other European provinces. This anomaly merits detailed investigation and the results will have implications not only for interpretation of this specific hoarding phenomenon, but will contribute significantly to more general debates about hoarding behaviour in antiquity.Traditionally these hoards have been interpreted as having been buried with the intention of recovery but recent discoveries such as the Frome hoard have suggested the possibility that these hoards may have been ritual (or `votive') deposits. Ritual deposition is a common explanation for prehistoric metalwork, and many, if not all, Iron Age coin hoards. Can we show whether any of the 3rd century hoards were likely to have been ritual deposits and, if so, how many? If so, what are the implications for the use of their contents in studying monetary history or political history?We propose to ask the following research questions: 1. Why were coin hoards deposited in Roman Britain - and was this for similar reasons as other Iron Age and Roman coin hoards? 2. Why were so many coin hoards deposited (and not recovered) in 3rd-century Britain and is their date of burial the same as the date of their latest coins?3. What do coin hoards tell us about the economic and political history of 3rd-century Britain?4. How different or similar are 3rd-century British coin hoards to those from other periods of Roman Britain or other parts of northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire? 5. What wider lessons can be learnt about using coin hoards to understand the economic, political and religious history of the Roman Empire?The project brings together the expertise of the British Museum in the study of Roman coins and hoards and the academic strengths of the University of Leicester in Roman archaeology and their experience of investigating coin hoards in a landscape setting. The PI, Dr Roger Bland, is Keeper of Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the British Museum and has very extensive experience studying hoards; the CIs are Professors Colin Haselgrove and David Mattingly, leading experts respectively on Iron Age archaeology and coinage and on the archaeology and economy of the Roman Empire. Under their collective guidance and with input from expert colleagues, 3 RAs will study (1) the hoards from Britain and the wider Empire, (2) a landscape study of the hoard findspots and archaeological evidence for Roman Britain in the 3rd century AD; and (3) reasons for the deposition of metalwork in the Iron Age and Roman periods.The key outputs will include a monograph, at least 5 peer-reviewed articles, 2 conferences (the papers of which will be published), two exhibitions, articles for popular magazines and a web-based hoards database.The project will build on discoveries made by members of the public and reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme to provide a comprehensive study of coin hoarding in Britain in the 3rd century AD, set in a wider context, and will also address key wider questions relevant for understanding coin hoards in other periods.