A Roman Denarius from Barham, Suffolk

Archaeological work at Barham Quarry (near Ipswich, Suffolk) has been going on for approximately a decade. Excavated in a number of phases ahead of expansion, the site has produced a wealth of archaeology mostly dating to the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and medieval periods. One find discovered during the most recent phase of work was a Roman coin, recovered from topsoil on the edge of an area with Roman settlement activity.

The coin in question is a silver denarius of the later Roman Republic, probably struck at the mint of Rome in the early 1st century BC. The denarius (plural: denarii) was the standard Roman silver coin of its day, introduced in the very late 3rd century BC and produced until the early 3rd century AD. Although it is hard to estimate the purchasing power of ancient coins and equate this with the modern day, some have suggested that the denarius was perhaps considered similarly to a £20 note.

Dating coins from the Roman Republic can be challenging, as by contrast with later Imperial issues they much more rarely depict or reference individuals who can be tied into historical chronologies. Numismatists (coin specialists) often assign dates to them by looking at evidence from hoards, art styles, documentary references to moneyers/officials named upon them and designs commemorating known historical events.

Despite being very worn, most of the details on our coin survive adequately. The obverse (‘heads’) depicts the head of the god Apollo facing right wearing a laurel wreath, while on the reverse (‘tails’) the god Jupiter gallops right in a four-horse chariot called a quadriga. A better-preserved example of the same type can be seen below – though not found during archaeological excavation.

Finds of Republican denarii are reasonably common in Britain, with thousands reported as metal detecting finds. Although most are found singly, because of their relatively high weight (averaging 3.9g) and good silver content of circa 95–8%, they are also found in coin hoards gathered together and buried during the later 1st to mid 2nd centuries AD. Some were over 200 years old by the time they went into the ground!

By AD 150, the denarius had been reduced in weight to an average of 3.4g and a silver content of approximately 83%, so earlier coins which pre-date this debasement (the adding of non-precious metal to silver) were probably especially valued as bullion. As an example, a hoard of 628 Roman denarii found at Askerwell, Dorset, was buried in or shortly after AD 85. However, a third of its coins (205 pieces) dated from the Republican era – i.e. pre-27 BC. Perfectly illustrating how these early coins were held onto for long periods of time, the earliest coin in the hoard dated to around 155 BC.

While many Republican denarii were likely brought over with the legions of first Julius Caesar (55-54 BC) and then Claudius (AD 43), some were undoubtedly already present in Britain. These probably arrived through trade during the Late Iron Age. Indeed, the well-travelled Greek writer Strabo (circa 64 BC–AD 24) wrote in his work Geographica (Geography) that Britain produced a number of desirable trade goods during the late 1st century BC:

‘It [Britain] bears grain, cattle, gold, silver and iron. These things, accordingly, are exported…as are also hides, and slaves, and hunting dogs…’

Such goods would have been exchanged for other goods or alternatively paid for with standardised, high-quality bullion – a role which denarii were certainly well suited to. This flow of coins from the Roman world certainly influenced the production of local currencies. Indeed, following Caesar’s expeditions, silver coinages emerged in several regions of Late Iron Age Britain – some of which were complex and produced in large quantities. Many of the new, locally made coins were likely manufactured at least in part from melted down Roman denarii.

The project was funded by Brett Aggregates Ltd.