Welsh Journals

THE DISCOVERY OF A ROMAN COIN HOARD AT SALEM, TREFEURIG, ABERYSTWYTH The sharp eyes and perspicacity of a young man on a bicycle has been responsible for the discovery of a hoard of Roman coins; a welcome addi- tion to an all too rare class of archaeological finds in the county. The Circumstances of the Discovery On 22 May 1998, Master Daniel McKeown of Gwyndy, Salem, noted a small coin close to the verge on the north side of the road leading into Salem from Penrhyncoch. It appeared to be of considerable antiquity and was shown to T.G. Driver, who lives in the village. He in turn showed it to J.L. Davies, who identified it as a base metal issue of Quintillus (AD 270), one of the rulers of the so-called Gallic Empire which seceded from the Roman west, remain- ing as a separate entity from AD 260-73 and of which Britian formed a part. He further commented on the fact that such coins normally appear as hoards, frequently running into many hundreds, if not thousands, and inquired as to whether the ground in the vicinity of the discovery had been recently dis- turbed. A major disturbance had indeed occurred some two weeks previously when Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water had excavated and back-filled a pipe trench in the fields immediately to the north of the road. J.L. Davies suggested that it might be worth examining the line of the pipe-trench in case other coins might be visible on the surface. T.G. Driver, who had access to a metal detector, agreed to do so and obtained permission from the landowner, Mr J. Hughes of Penycwm, Penrhyncoch, to scan the easement of the pipe-trench which had since been harrowed, rolled and re-seeded. He was immediately successful in detecting 10 coins just below the surface in a fairly restricted area over the pipe easement. At this stage Cambria Archaeology, Ceredigion Museum and the Department of Archaeology and Numismatics of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales (NMGW) were informed of the discoveries. Subsequently, between 29 May and 4 June the writers were able to under- take a thorough search of the easement, recovering a further 37 coins and nar- rowing down the zone of dispersal to an area of roughly 7.50m north-south by 6m east-west. The coins, which were for the most part badly corroded, with the majority adhering to one or two others, lay close to the surface at a depth rarely exceeding lOcms. A small amount of clearance established that the subsoil only lay some 15-20 cms beneath the overburden, whilst the pipe-