JERSEY GROUVILLE HOARD WAS TWO COLLECTIONS

THE largest hoard of Celtic coins and jewellery ever found, which was unearthed in a Grouville field in 2012, is revealing yet more secrets about life in Jersey and northern France 2,000 years ago.

Meticulous work overseen by Jersey Heritage to conserve and study the so-called Le Câtillon II hoard - which includes 70,000 gold and silver coins and 11 gold torques - has been going on for seven years.

The latest findings follow the use of laser-mapping and engineering data-analysis techniques.

They show that it is actually two collections of coins, possibly from different tribes or rich dynasties, which were hidden together as Roman legions advanced through what is now France in the first century BC. It is possible that one of these groups was from near Dinan, in Brittany, and the other from Normandy.

During the three years it took to disassemble the hoard, which came out of the ground in one large piece after being found by metal detectorists Reg Mead and Richard Miles, the position of every coin and other items was recorded using the laser-mapping techniques.

Mr Miles explained that the study of the data had revealed some surprising results.

'Research suggests that the hoard is not, as previously thought, a single mass of material, but a complex arrangement of items divided into two separate and distinct areas of coin composition, origin and age,' he said.

Dr Philip de Jersey, archaeologist for the States of Guernsey and a world-renowned expert on Celtic coins, said: 'This research into the hoard composition is fascinating. This is the first time we have been able to examine a Celtic hoard in such detail. No other hoard has been disassembled with such precision and care, permitting an in-depth understanding of both the composition and the burial process.

To read the complete article, see:
Coin hoard reveals its latest secret - it was two collections (https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2019/03/24/coin-hoard-reveals-its-latest-secret--it-was-two-collections/)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
WORK CONTINUES ON CELTIC COIN HOARD FOUND IN JERSEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n25a24.html)
JERSEY GROUVILLE HOARD BEING DISMANTLED (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n35a32.html)

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