EDO6443 - The Wareham St Martin Hoard; excavation 2013

An excavation was undertaken following the discovery of a hoard of Roman coins by a metal detectorist. A trench measuring 0.8m by 0.7m was opened and topsoil removed manually. Hoard deposits were found 0.3m below ground level in a vessel. The undisturbed coins were removed from the upper, central and basal remains of the pot. The trench w as extended by 1 sq m to the south and west to allow for retrieval of further coins and to assess the pot setting. A further trench was dug through a lower layer of pottery-rich sub-soil and the exposed lowere layer contained Roman material. There was plough damage to the pit and the plough soil contained displaced Roman coins, pottery, fragments of briquetage. The in situ coins were contained in a WA Type 3 Black Burnished ware jar, characteristic of Wareham/Poole Harbour fabric. Only the lower part had survived the plough. The plough soil may have been Roman or plough soil developed on earlier deposits. Over 700 coins were collected. Most appeared prior to cleaning up, to be issues of the Gallic empire, copper alloy radiates produced in the second half of the 3rd century AD. The latest coin seemed to be a radiate of Maximian which could not have been issued before AD 286. The pottery, briquetage and Roman soil characteristics were felt to strongly hint at an unrecognised Roman settlement or industrial site.