TREASURE FINDS IN THE UK TOP 20
WHEN a group of metal detectorists stumbled upon some silver pennies in a Welsh field they could not have imagined the importance of the discovery.
But the eventual find of 199 silver coins dating from the era of William the Conqueror in the countryside of Monmouthshire is one of two in Wales named in a top 20 list of treasures found in the UK.
The coins had been lost or hidden in a cloth bag after 1080. For most people they would have represented several months’ pay.
They form a rare hoard from western Britain for the period.
The second Welsh discovery is a site, rather than a single group of objects – a prehistoric feasting place and settlement uncovered in Llanmaes, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
In 2003, Steve McGrory and Anton Jones reported a group of rare bronze cauldrons and axes to the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Wales, discovered near the village of Llanmaes.
An initial investigation of the findspot by the National Museum turned into an important research excavation and community archaeology project.
This has revealed an extraordinary prehistoric feasting mound, containing thousands of pig bones, further feasting vessels and axes.
The site contains a variety of unexpected items, including Bronze Age axe heads from northern France and huge numbers of pig bones.
One particularly unusual find is the tooth of a great white shark, which has left archaeologists puzzled.
Before this, there was no known archaeology here.
The Treasure Act, implemented in September 1997, is the main mechanism by which treasure finds recovered by the public are acquired by museums for public benefit.
Non-treasure finds may also be recorded on a voluntary basis through the Portable Antiquities Scheme in England and Wales (PAS Cymru).
Treasure 20 is a partnership be- tween the British Museum, The Telegraph and museums across the country.
The project celebrates the many treasure finds made in England and Wales in the past 20 years and their contribution to an understanding of our past.
Dr Rhianydd Biebrach, Project Officer, Saving Treasures Telling Stories, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, said: “It’s great to have two Welsh treasure discoveries listed in the British Museum’s Treasure 20 poll. It means they are among the 20 most important treasure discoveries of the last 20 years, and that’s really significant for Wales.
“Both the Llanmaes feasting site and the Abergavenny hoard are of national or international significance because of the stories they tell about Wales and its place in the wider world.”