File:Roman coin, Denarius of Commodus (2014T438) (FindID 624462).jpg

English: Silver Roman finger ring, four silver denarii, sherd, steelyard weight:

Steelyward Weight: 46mm (height); 31.5mm (bottom diameter); over 300g

Samian Ware sherd: Naked male figure right, right arm raised; only torso visible. Extremely worn body sherd, probably Dragendorff 37; 56.1mm x 41.5mm x 4mm; 11.87g

Silver finger ring fragment: 16mm height (bezel); 4mm height (hoop); 2.64g;

Four coins:

Four Roman Denarii from Burrow Heights, Lancaster (?): June 2014-06-26 (by Prof David Shotter)

1. Republican, Marcus Porcius Laeca (RRC 270, 1; 125 BC; 3.23g; 17mm x 1.5mm)

Helmeted head of Roma, right; behind (vertically) LAECA

Libertas in quadriga MPORC(ius) ROMA

2. Vespasian (RIC 2² (Vespasian), 964; AD 77-8; 2g; 18mm x 1mm)

CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG

[ANNONA AVG]

3. Antoninus Pius (RIC 3 (Antoninus), 64; AD 140-3; 2.6g; 18.5mm x 1.5mm)

ANTONINVS AVG PIVS [P P TR P] COS III

CLEMENTIA AVG

4. Commodus (RIC 3 (Commodus), 251; AD 191-2; 2.5g; 16.9mm x 1.7mm)

[L AEL AVREL COM]M AVG P FEL

Club within wreath HERCVL ROMAN AVGV

The evident physical scatter of these coins, whilst it does not rule out a hoard-source, makes it unlikely, although the coins could have been spread by ploughing which is evident from visible features in the area. Coins 2-4 could cohere in a hoard terminating in late second/early third century; coin 1 is a less likely, although not impossible, feature is such a hoard. Alternatively, the coins might derive from a scattered ritual deposit.

The fact that the area displays a visible earthwork which, it has been suggested (Edwards 2009, 103-7), might derive from a Roman-period mausoleum, together with the discovery over the years of both prehistoric and Roman material (including aes-coins, dating from the first to third centuries; Shotter 2000, 28), points to the likely existence of site-activity over a considerable period.

References

Edwards B.J.N., 2009: 'The Burrow Roman Sculptures, with a Hypothetical

Reconstruction of a Mausoleum', pp. 103-7 in Iles P.D. and Shotter D.C.A.

(eds), Lancaster's Roman Cemeteries, Lancaster

Shotter D.C.A., 2000: Roman Coins from North-West England: Second Supplement,

Lancaster