ANCIENT LAND : SOUTH FERRIBY TYPE STATER
PERIOD: IRON AGE, LOCATION: LINCOLNSHIRE, UK MATERIAL: BASE GOLD
We decided to take ourselves on an adventure down to the remotest part of our permission. A series of fields that are practically landlocked, accessible only by one poorly maintained private lane that’s practically a pothole minefield.
We rarely come down here as the access is so poor and it’s normally a bit of a swamp. But something keeps bringing us back. Down here in these fields it’s hard to explain the feeling that we experience, maybe it’s because we couldn’t be furthest from the village and civilization, which is exactly why we feel the most connected to something ancient and prehistoric. They ignite a curiosity in us that keeps us digging, even when the digging is at its most difficult and disheartening.
And that’s pretty much exactly how the day was going. About 60 shotgun shells in we had lost faith in the signals but were digging them all anyway, stubbornly convinced that something just had to be down here. Prehistory, the period that we are dreaming about finding, is this time in human history where our knowledge has barely scratched the surface. There are no written records to point us in the right direction and it’s only through the artefacts and clues left in our current landscapes that reveal glimpses into these past lives. Pieces of a puzzle that nobody really knows how to fit together.
Down here in these fields it’s hard to explain the feeling that we experience, maybe it’s because we couldn’t be furthest from the village and civilization, which is exactly why we feel the most connected to something ancient and prehistoric.
Here in Lincolnshire we have rather humble beginnings historically emerging as a farming community, somewhere between 4000 - 3000 BC. Prior to that people tended to travel through rather than settle, the geography of our county, such as the high limestone belt and low lying marshes, provided more of an ancient highway than a home. It is not until the Iron Age that Lincolnshire begins to see a community of settlements flourishing, exploiting the farming landscape and prominent salt industry at the time, then the Romans invade and the rest is history.
But there is something magical about these early settlers, of the Iron Age and prior, a curiosity to fill in the gaps of our knowledge. When it comes to this prehistory, the location of artefacts provides some of the only data available, and often metal detecting practices are a large contributing factor to filling in some of the blanks. Only finding a piece of Iron Age here on our permission seems like a long dream away on days like these. But at least we seem to have broken through the shotgun barrier and begun finding buttons, humble tombac buttons that at least speak of some life down here in these fields that don't revolve around game shooting.
Kneeling down into the next signal, a jumpy mid 20s on the VDI, it’s buried deep, a good two or three shovels down. With silent prayers sent to the metal detecting gods that it isn’t a shotty sent deep into the earth by the turn of the plough a small round metallic artefact appears in Ellie’s palm, absolutely covered by mud. We were pretty convinced it was another tombac button upon revealing a plain convex surface. Turning it over to reveal its identity however left us both speechless, brains whirring coming up with only one conclusion…but after the day we’ve had it just doesn’t seem like it can be true.
It’s an iron age coin, a Celtic stater, one that’s over 2,000 years old, and sitting here in shotgun alley it feels like a gift sent straight from the gods. A sacred reward for our stubborn perseverance and one of a few reminders of an ancient society that we know little about.
Turning it over to reveal its identity however left us both speechless, brains whirring coming up with only one conclusion…but after the day we’ve had it just doesn’t seem like it can be true.
We would like to introduce you to the Corieltauvi Tribe, the people who inhabited Lincolnshire during the Iron Age. We may call them the Corieltauvi Tribe, but they were actually made up of a series of communities, small clans and families that were all associated under one overarching tribal structure. Their capital is believed to have been based at Leicester, with a large mint at Sleaford and another important centre here at Lincoln. Only what we know is incredibly limited, we only know their name because the Romans wrote it down when they invaded.
The Corieltauvi coins are one of the most important pieces of evidence we have left behind of this little known tribe, especially as not all Iron Age tribes had coins at this time. These Iron Age coins were some of the first coins to ever be minted in Britain and the Corieltauvi are the most Northern Tribe to mint them. In fact we know nothing of the rulers of the Corieltauvi beyond what is recorded on their coins. So every single coin find provides an important clue, a piece of information that when pieced together begins to build up a picture of this society.
Our coin, uniface with an abstracted design of a horse made up of crescent shapes, with a star sun pictured below, is a South Ferriby Type Stater, dating from 45 -55 BC. It depicts two incredibly important and worshipped symbols in Celtic society, lifestyles, and mythology and originally would have been minted right here in Lincolnshire, in the village of South Ferriby, a small settlement that is found on the banks of the Humber, and most likely provided an important point for trade. An incredible piece of local and ancient history and an important find that will add to the archaeological record of our area.
Not only that but our coin is an incredibly unusual colour, its design and size speaks of its identity as only a stater. Yet it’s not bright gold, and we know gold doesn’t tarnish in the ground even after over 2,000 years. No, what we have here might be something even more rare and unusual, a base gold stater, one minted out of a poor quality gold supply reflecting a possible shortage in gold bullion for the Corieltauvi Tribe leading them to debase their coinage with these base gold staters as the result.
But the real question is, have we discovered an Iron Age spot on our permission? An ancient land lost in a sea of shotgun shells? It seems like we are going to have to stick it out amongst all the shot and find out.
