Roger Bland

More coin hoards have been recorded from Roman Britain than from any other province of the Empire. This comprehensive and lavishly illustrated volume provides a survey of over 3260 hoards of Iron Age and Roman coins found in England and Wales with a detailed analysis and discussion. Theories of hoarding and deposition and examined, national and regional patterns in the landscape settings of coin hoards presented, together with an analysis of those hoards whose findspots were surveyed and of those hoards found in archaeological excavations. It also includes an unprecedented examination of the containers in which coin hoards were buried and the objects found with them. The patterns of hoarding in Britain from the late 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD are discussed. The volume also provides a survey of Britain in the 3rd century AD, as a peak of over 700 hoards are known from the period from AD 253–296. This has been a particular focus of the project which has been a collaborative research project between the University of Leicester and the British Museum funded by the AHRC. The aim has been to understand the reasons behind the burial and non-recovery of these finds. A comprehensive online database (https://finds.org.uk/database) underpins the project, which also undertook a comprehensive GIS analysis of all the hoards and field surveys of a sample of them.

The Cunetio and Normanby hoards are the two of the largest Roman coin hoards from Britain. They both comprise mostly 'radiate' coins struck in the second half of the 3rd century and are the most important catalogues for people identifying radiate coins in Britain dating from AD 253 to AD 275. The Cunetio hoard was originally published as a single volume, The Cunetio Treasure by EM Besly and RF Bland (British Museum Press, 1983); the Normanby hoard was published along with several other hoards in The Normanby Hoard and other Roman coin hoards: Coin Hoards from Roman Britain VIII edited by RF Bland and AM Burnett (British Museum Press, 1988). This edition provides the two hoards in one volume with a note on more recent work on the radiate coinage of AD 253-96 and notes to aid identification by Sam Moorhead.

On 5 July 2009 a metal-detectorist started to unearth gold objects in a Staffordshire field. Thus began the discovery of the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found. Consisting of over 1600 items – including fittings from the hilts of swords, fragments from helmets, Christian crosses and magnificent pieces of garnet work – the Staffordshire Hoard has begun to rewrite history. This new and extended edition of the successful title by Kevin Leahy and Roger Bland delves deeper into the story behind the hoard, using the latest research to fill previous gaps in knowledge and turn some of the original ideas about the discovery on their head. Complete with new photography of the cleaned and conserved objects, showing off the stunning and intricate decoration, this book provides a fascinating account of the history and the discovery of this remarkable hoard.