The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Barbarian Gold Haemorrhage Fifth Century Solidus Export from Centre to Periphery in The Late Roman Empire

The lecture takes its point of departure from the newly discovered Como hoard – exactly 1,000 gold solidi tucked into a dozen cloth rolls and stacked up inside a ceramic pitcher (Facchinetti 2019, 2022). The Como hoard is the third largest solidus hoard ever recovered by professional archaeologists. Discovered only in 2018, and briefly presented in 2019 before the pandemic, the hoard has been excavated stratigraphically in a research laboratory by Dr Grazia M Facchinetti in Milan. The Como hoard is a rare intact time capsule full of invaluable data. These can be assessed on two levels. First, it shows the larger economic process of the Roman collapse. Second, the hoard possesses a unique object biography, relating to real events and people that are only briefly mentioned in written sources. The coin assembly has an abrupt final date of October 472, as confirmed by the 10 die-linked coins for Anicius Olybrius (472-473) stacked up at the brim of the pitcher. Only six solidi for Olybrius were known before the discovery of the Como hoard. This magnificent assembly from the obscure last days of Rome cannot be understood in isolation.

The by far closest parallels to the Como hoard are the die-linked coins found on the distant islands of Öland, Bornholm and Gotland in southern Scandinavia. Due to strict laws and a centralist antiquarian administration, most corresponding Scandinavian find coins are preserved in national museums in Sweden and Denmark. The project has these coins on digital record. The island of Öland (Sweden) is unusually rich in finds with some 365 recorded solidi. This material has been studied in several publications by the lecturer.

In a joint Swedish-Italian project, the lecturer will compare the data for the 1,000 solidi of the Como hoard assembled by Facchinetti (2022). The main task of the project will consist of comparing the 1,000 solidi in the Como treasure to a supraregional database of some 26,000 solidi, of which c. 1,200 solidi are from Scandinavia. The main goal is to establish the number of dies within each coin type and to identify how the Como treasure connects to the Swedish finds and other hoards. How does one assess coin circulation from an imperialist centre to a pre-monetised periphery in an age of transformation? Is the term Coin Circulation correct or should one opt for the more drastic term Barbarian Gold Haemorrhage, as suggested by Peter Guest? What coins were assembled inside the Empire? By whom? For how long? Are these coins identical to those in hoards in the periphery? Is there a correlation between the location of the hoard and the closes imperial mints? Does the evidence from the periphery contradict this theory? To what extent is the producer and exporter able to comprehend or influence the market actors in the receiving area? To what extent is the receiver able to understand and influence the supply market? With this Swedish-Italian project we hope to link centre and periphery as we share a common past.

Roman Mosaics of Britain: Research and Discoveries since 2010

The lecture will form part of a celebration and launch of Volume v of the Roman Mosaics of Britain. The authors, Cosh and Neal, will give an account of the project from its conception and publication of Volume I in 2002 and describe significant milestones in its production. Inevitably the bringing together of all the mosaics from Roman Britain has raised many issues particularly stylistic affinities between mosaic groups in different parts of the country and the establishment of workshops and ateliers from Northern France and Germany. The production of mosaics was a major component of the decoration of Roman buildings; the laying of mosaics would need the services of architects and quantity surveyors to commission materials from quarries and the transportation of tesserae. This was a major industry highlighted for the need of 17 million tesserae for the mosaics from Fishbourne alone.

The presentation will describe some of the problems of recording mosaics in situ and the need to maintain the tradition of detailed examination of the pavements. Close observation remains essential. Volume V publishes comment on many new aspects of research and a catalogue of new discoveries, including those from Boxford and Ketton, two of the most important mosaics ever to be found in Britain.

This lecture was sponsored and hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of London in its apartments at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. The Society recorded the proceedings and, with permission of the speaker(s), made them available online here, and on its website at www.sal.org.uk. All rights reserved.