DOI article:
Horsnæs, Helle W.; Refshauge Beck, Malene: A hoard of republican denarii from Skellerup, Denmark - a preliminary report
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49247#0043
A HOARD OF REPUBLICAN DENARII FROM SKELLERUP...
by private amateur archaeologists. A total of twenty-eight objects have been found
and registered with GPS coordinates.
From an archaeological point of view, the area around Skellerup is almost
unknown land where no substantial archaeological investigations have thus far been
performed. A few pits probably dating to the early part of the pre-Roman Iron Age
(c. 500-300 BC) have been registered 450 m west and northwest of the treasure
find.3 A few more pits with pottery from the late pre-Roman Iron Age have been
documented 550 m to the south,4 and traces of settlements from the pre-Roman
Iron Age have been investigated 1500 m west of the Skellerup site in connection
with the construction of a gas pipeline.5 Although no traces of settlements have thus
far been documented in close relation to the Skellerup site, it seems, based on the
current information and finds, that the area around it was quite densely populated
during the Early Iron Age (c. 500-1 BC). However, no finds from the Roman Iron
Age (c. AD 1-375) have thus far been documented.
THE COINS
The finds soon attracted attention, as a substantial number of them, twenty-
three in total, are Roman coins, which can be divided into three groups: twenty
denarii from the Republican and early Augustan periods, two imperial denarii, and
a sestertius (see coin lists). Thus far, no coins of the Viking Age or later medieval
period have been found.
THE EARLY AUGUSTAN HOARD
The majority of the Republican/early Augustan denarii were found on the same
field within an area measuring approximately 60 x 40 m. The distance between the
coins is thus relatively large, and there is no dense concentration of coins indicating
that the remains of the original deposition could still be intact. But considering the
low intensity of other finds, as well as the rarity of these types of denarii in the
general spectrum of finds in Denmark, it seems safe to interpret them as the remains
of a plowed-up hoard.6
3 Site nos. 090613-25 and 29 in the Danish National Heritage database Fund og Fortidsminder (Finds
and Monuments).
4 Site nos. 090613 15 and 19 in the Danish National Heritage database Fund o.g Fortidsminder (Finds
and Monuments).
5 Site no. 090613-24 in the Danish National Heritage database Fund og Fortidsminder (Finds and
Monuments)
6 There arc several examples of plowed-up denarius hoards with long distances between individual finds
where it has been possible to re-fit broken coins, c.g. hoards from Bornholm (HORSNAiS 2013) and a recently
discovered hoard from Tagcsgard, Lolland, where it was possible to re-fit five coins with examples of two
fragments of the same coin found up to 70 m apart (sec Rasmussen (2015), though there is no discussion here
of these rc-fittings).
39
by private amateur archaeologists. A total of twenty-eight objects have been found
and registered with GPS coordinates.
From an archaeological point of view, the area around Skellerup is almost
unknown land where no substantial archaeological investigations have thus far been
performed. A few pits probably dating to the early part of the pre-Roman Iron Age
(c. 500-300 BC) have been registered 450 m west and northwest of the treasure
find.3 A few more pits with pottery from the late pre-Roman Iron Age have been
documented 550 m to the south,4 and traces of settlements from the pre-Roman
Iron Age have been investigated 1500 m west of the Skellerup site in connection
with the construction of a gas pipeline.5 Although no traces of settlements have thus
far been documented in close relation to the Skellerup site, it seems, based on the
current information and finds, that the area around it was quite densely populated
during the Early Iron Age (c. 500-1 BC). However, no finds from the Roman Iron
Age (c. AD 1-375) have thus far been documented.
THE COINS
The finds soon attracted attention, as a substantial number of them, twenty-
three in total, are Roman coins, which can be divided into three groups: twenty
denarii from the Republican and early Augustan periods, two imperial denarii, and
a sestertius (see coin lists). Thus far, no coins of the Viking Age or later medieval
period have been found.
THE EARLY AUGUSTAN HOARD
The majority of the Republican/early Augustan denarii were found on the same
field within an area measuring approximately 60 x 40 m. The distance between the
coins is thus relatively large, and there is no dense concentration of coins indicating
that the remains of the original deposition could still be intact. But considering the
low intensity of other finds, as well as the rarity of these types of denarii in the
general spectrum of finds in Denmark, it seems safe to interpret them as the remains
of a plowed-up hoard.6
3 Site nos. 090613-25 and 29 in the Danish National Heritage database Fund og Fortidsminder (Finds
and Monuments).
4 Site nos. 090613 15 and 19 in the Danish National Heritage database Fund o.g Fortidsminder (Finds
and Monuments).
5 Site no. 090613-24 in the Danish National Heritage database Fund og Fortidsminder (Finds and
Monuments)
6 There arc several examples of plowed-up denarius hoards with long distances between individual finds
where it has been possible to re-fit broken coins, c.g. hoards from Bornholm (HORSNAiS 2013) and a recently
discovered hoard from Tagcsgard, Lolland, where it was possible to re-fit five coins with examples of two
fragments of the same coin found up to 70 m apart (sec Rasmussen (2015), though there is no discussion here
of these rc-fittings).
39