Record-breaking haul from Gaul discovered at farm in Brittany

[Golethia Pennington]

Record-breaking haul from Gaul discovered at farm in Brittany

Thursday, December 20, 2007

By John Lichfield in Paris

Asterix and Obelix, had they existed, might have paid for their mead and other magic potions with gold-silver-copper coins stamped with elaborate images of men and horses.

The largest treasure trove of pre-Roman, Gaulish money ever to be found has been discovered in central Brittany.


The 545 coins – each worth thousands of euros to collectors but priceless to historians and archaeologists – could overturn much of the received wisdom about the complexity, and wealth, of pre-Roman Celtic society in France. Why was such enormous wealth, a king's ransom at the time, buried in the grounds of a large Gaulish farm 40 miles south of Saint-Brieuc in the first century BC? Why was the hoard never recovered?


"Treasure on this scale would only have been used for transactions between aristocratic families," said Yves Menez, an archaeologist specialising in iron-age Brittany. It has always been assumed that the Celtic nobility lived in fortified towns, not in the wild and dangerous countryside. "The reality must have been more complex," Mr Menez said. Like all Gaulish coins, the 58 "stateres" and 487 quarter "stateres" found near to the village of Laniscat are copies of early Greek money.


Gauls served as mercenaries in the armies of Alexander the Great. The money that they brought home served as the model for home-minted coins. Some of the new treasure trove, rescued from the site of a proposed dual-carriageway, have the familiar Celtic monetary pattern of a horse on one side and a man's head on the reverse. Other coins have hitherto unknown designs, such as horses with human heads.


There are also images of riders and wild boars.


Smaller caches of Gaulish coins have turned up in the past but rarely of such quality and never in such numbers.


Most transactions for goods in Gaulish times were conducted through barter.


Coins were for the super-rich. "This is an exceptional discovery," said Mr Menez. "It represents a colossal fortune for the period. Each of these coins was like a 500 euro note today."


The hoard of coins was discovered by the French government agency, the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP), which has the right to explore any potentially significant site before a road or new building covers it forever. The coins are believed to have been minted in around 75 to 5BC. They were probably buried just before, or during, the first Roman invasions of what is now northern and western France.


A dig led by INRAP archaeologist Eddie Roy discovered the coins scattered over 200 square metres of a site soon to be occupied by a new by-pass.


It is believed that they were all buried together but disturbed over the centuries by agricultural ploughing. "We found a single coin about 30cms down and then we started a systematic search," Mr Roy said.


"We found 50 more in a single day and then, with the help of metal detectors, we located all the others."


The dig unearthed the remains of a large manor house or farm, which is thought to have belonged to the "Osisme" people – a Celtic tribe living in the far west of the Breton peninsula. The coins were probably buried in the farm's boundary embankment. Why? To hide the wealth from the Romans? Possibly. The farm was occupied for several centuries after the treasure was buried but the coins were never recovered: one small part of Gaul which resisted the Roman invasion.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article3266841.ece

[Bianca]

Hi, Golethia,


I apologize for being a 'nit-picker', but BRITTANY is in FRANCE.

This thread is about BRITAIN = ENGLAND.

[rockessence]

This about Celtic history....I had posted it in Celtic history: Britain.... a few days ago.  Should I move it somewhere else?

[Bianca]

What's YOUR problem, Rocky?  Was I addressing YOU?

I've seen you 'nit-pick' on people for much less, like 'peek' for 'piqued or peaked', for in-
stance.......and without  nary a word of "excuse me, but.....", just slammed the poor
person with their error!

Oh, yes:  Happy Holidays to you, too......

[Bianca]

Golethia,

Please forgive me for bringing this up at all.  Welcome to the Forum and


HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours!

Bianca

[rockessence]

Yoicks!

[Aristotle]

You are both right, Brittany was a former province of what is now considered to be France, however, it was populated by Celts. So, this one probably should go someplace else, maybe "Continental Europe" since there is already a copy in the Celt section. 

I actually don't mind Rockessence's nit-picking when it comes to the English language, though.  I think we could all use a better grasp of grammar and spelling. If someone is wrong when it comes to either the English language or geography, I frankly have no problem with the error being pointed out to them.  We wouldn't ever learn anything if they did not.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

[Lawrence Fragg]

The person at fault is clearly this Pennington person. What kind of person thinks that Brittany is in Britain not France?

And Pennnington is an English name. Study up on your geography, fella!

[rockessence]

Nit...

[Lawrence Fragg]

He certainly is.

[Golethia Pennington]

Actually, I thought I did put this one in the Continental Europe forum and was a bit mistaken.  I am getting a bit on in the years and my eyesight isn't what it used to be.

Thank you for being so understanding, Mr. Fragg.

[Golethia Pennington]

Thanks for the good wishes, Bianca!

[rockessence]

Nit...

As in NIT-picker....mr. frag-bomb...I was refering to you.

[Lawrence Fragg]

Actually, I thought I did put this one in the Continental Europe forum and was a bit mistaken.  I am getting a bit on in the years and my eyesight isn't what it used to be.

Thank you for being so understanding, Mr. Fragg.

Not at all, I take a great deal of pleasure in finding the mistakes of others and pointing them out to them.