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ROMAN HOARDS - IS THERE A CLUE HERE?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by TheodericAur (U14260004) on Thursday, 10th February 2011

  Hi All
  
  Roman hoards seem to have coins with huge date ranges. Now if these are not votive offerings this implies that the coins would have had value over a period of time.
  
  In the opinion of the numismatists does this imply that inflation was held at a stable rate over a number of years?
  
  Does this also imply that coinage rather than being abandoned after a new emperor, was in circulation for many years and therefore soldiers would be paid from the treasury in coinage from a range of dates not just by the latest emperor minted coins?
  
  Kind Regards - TA
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Thursday, 10th February 2011

  As far as I understand it there was considerable inflation, particularly during the 3rd century and later and this was tackled by the emperors withdrawing coins from circulation and replacing them with debased currency. Would this not be an incentive for people to retain older coins for their bullion content? Precious metals have always been the fall back in periods of political or financial uncertainty - look at the gold price today.
  Of course this only makes sense so far as utilitarian hoards are concerned, votive hoards would be different. Would the location of the hoard be a clue to its nature? Utilitarian hoards might well be buried in apparently random places - an anonymous field, under a tree or fence, anywhere its owner could find it again but would not announce itself to others as worth exploring. Votive hoards would surely, and I'm aware I'm probably on shaky ground here, be placed somewhere of significance, a shrine or temple or, as traditional practice dictated, in a wet or damp location. Which raises another question; what's the relationship of ritual deposition in Romano British society to the pre Roman Iron Age and did the earlier practice survive through the occupation? Some of you must know!
  
  

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  Posted by Anglo-Norman (U1965016) on Friday, 11th February 2011

  My memory is a little hazy and the book I have on the subject is not currently accessible, but IIRC the value of Roman currency remained fairly stable until round about the middle of the Imperial era when the rate of inflation abruptly shot up.

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