The Bunnik hoard

44 gold staters were discovered with 360 Roman coins by metal detectorists in a field in Bunnik, near Utrecht Netherlands in 2023.

Included were 72 gold aurei, dated between 18 B.C. and 47 A.D. The Roman gold exhibits no wear, suggesting they were freshly minted.

Most of the hoard are Roman coins dating between 46 and 47 A.D., a period marking the end of the first Roman conquests in Britain. Many bear the image of Emperor Claudius, who was crucial in expanding the empire’s reach into the British Isles. Some of the nearly 300 silver denarii date as far back as 200 B.C.

Saters bearing the inscription of King Cunobelin were very likely the spoils of war of Roman soldiers from the conquest of Britain. Celtic king Cunobelinus reigned between AD5 and AD40 in the south-east of Britain. Four of the staters are posthumous issues, probably struck by Cunobelinus’s successors as ruler of the Catuvellauni tribe, the brothers Togodumnus and Caratacus, around AD 43. The hoard would have amounted to over 12 years in wages for an ordinary Roman soldier.

The most recent coins in the hoard were struck in AD 46-47, and bear the portrait of the emperor Claudius. The area where the coins were discovered was a site from which the Romans had prepared for first crossing to Britain. It now appears it was also an area to which the conquering troops returned to the mainland. The wide chronological range of the coins suggests they are consistent with being spoils from the early Roman conquest of Britain under the general Aulus Plautius (AD43-47). The coins may have been distributed to the army as a donativum, a bonus for a successful campaign.

Britain consisted of several separate kingdoms before Claudius ordered Aulus Plautius to invade with a force of four legions reinforced by a further 20,000 auxiliary soldiers. The Romans landed at Richborough, Kent and were met a large army of Britons under the Catuvellauni kings Caratacus and his brother Togodumnus, on the River Medway.

Spearheaded by Legio II Augusta under Vespasian, the Romans crossed the river and defeated the Britons in the Battle of the Medway.