only by Crispina, whom he married in 178 A.D., two years before his accession, and discarded soon after he became emperor. The interest of the comparison with the Castle Bromwich hoard lies in the fact that the latter must have been hidden away almost simultaneously with the close of the Newstead series. Whether its concealment was connected with the disturbances that culminated in the abandonment of Southern Scotland, it is impossible to say.[1] Including, however, 18 pieces struck in copper and washed in silver, it consisted of 194 denarii, the latest being one of Commodus, dated 177 A.D. Its composition was as follows:
Mark Antony | 1 | |
Vespasian | 23 | |
Titus | 3 | |
Domitian | 7 | |
Nerva | 3 | |
Trajan | 34 | |
Hadrian | 48 | |
Sabina | 2 | |
Antoninus Pius | 30 | |
Faustina Senior | 10 | |
Marcus Aurelius | 21 | |
Faustina Junior | 10 | |
Lucius Verus | 1 | |
Commodus | 1 | |
Total, | 194 |
This may fairly be taken as typical of the normal silver currency of the province of Britain about 150 A.D. The contrast with the Newstead list is striking. Vespasian is the first emperor who appears, while the percentage of pre-Trajanic to later issues is just over 19 as compared with almost 56. Again, the Castle Bromwich pieces were) for the most part, in poor condition; the earlier ones) in particular, were worn through usage. At Newstead, on the other hand, some of the denarii of the Flavian Emperors had seen but little service; quite a large proportion are noted as having been in 'very good' or in 'good' condition, when lost—descriptions which may be roughly regarded as indicating that the Coins to which they are applied had not been in active circulation for more than, say, ten and twenty-five years respectively. The numismatic evidence would thus seem to be convincing as to a first-century occupation of the site. It may even throw some light on the question of how long this occupation lasted. That it did not end with the recall of Agricola in 86 A.D. is tolerably plain. The whole of the 'good' or 'very good' coins of Domitian are subsequent to that year. Furthermore, one of the 3 coins of Nerva ranks as 'good,' while of the 15 struck by Trajan there are as many as three which
1 A much smaller hoard, which must have been buried about the same time, or possibly a few years earlier, was recently discovered at Nottingham (Num. Chron. 1910, pp. 205 f.).
400