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04.04.2021

Wickham Market Hoard

The Wickham Market Treasure Trove is a notable hoard of 840 Iron Age gold staters that was discovered in a field near Wickham Market, Suffolk, England, in March 2008. Michael Dark, an auto mechanic, found this treasure using a metal detector in a field on Dallinghoo, near Wickham Market.

Initially, 825 coins were uncovered at the site during the excavation process. However, by the time the hoard was officially declared as such, a total of 840 coins had been found. These coins date back to the period between 40 B.C. and 15 A.D.

This treasure has earned recognition as "the largest hoard of British Iron Age gold coins to be fully studied." It played a crucial role in providing valuable insights into the Iron Age, especially concerning East Anglia towards the end of that era. Furthermore, it was the largest hoard of staters discovered since the Waddon-Chase Iron Age burial in 1849.

In June 2011, the Ipswich Museum purchased the hoard for £316,000.

The discovery of this treasure began on March 16, 2008, when a sixty-year-old auto mechanic, initially wanting to remain anonymous but later identified as Michael Dark, found his first gold coin after twenty-five years of metal detecting in the fields near Wickham Market. Darke recognized the coin as a Freckenham stater, named after the hoard where this type of coin was first found in 1885.

A week later, despite snowy conditions from his previous visit to the field, Darke found eight more gold staters. As he continued searching, his metal detector started reacting strongly, leading him to believe he was standing on a cache of gold coins.

Rather than excavating immediately, he marked the spot with stones, explaining that "these coins have waited two thousand years for me to find them, so they can wait another night for me." The next night, he dug up an additional 774 coins. The field had not been plowed since 1980, and the soil had a clay-like consistency. Previous farming activities had scattered the coins over an area of 5-10 meters (16-33 feet) after the top of the black clay pot that contained them had broken. Some coins were still found inside the broken pot, while most were located 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) below the surface.

Wickham Market Hoard

After cleaning the discovered coins in warm water, Michael Darke handed them over to the landowner, who then reported the find to the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service.

This hoard represented the largest number of Iron Age gold staters found since 1849 when an agricultural worker stumbled upon a cache of 450 to 800 or even as many as 2,000 coins in a field on the Waddon Chase near Milton Keynes.

While the exact reason for burying this treasure remains a mystery, there are several theories. One possibility is that it was a votive offering or a communal treasure collected and buried for the benefit of the community. It might have served as a war chest, stored in case of an impending threat, or as a form of tribute to deter potential invaders.

Jude Pluviez from Suffolk County Council's Archaeological Service commented that the discovery is significant because it highlights the likely political, economic, and religious importance of the region. This find, in particular, provided "a wealth of new information about the Iron Age, especially about East Anglia in the late Iron Age."

Ian Lanes, who was the curator of Iron Age coins at the British Museum at the time, noted that this hoard was "the largest hoard of British Iron Age gold coins to be fully studied," emphasizing its historical and archaeological importance.

Wickham Market Hoard

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