Harvest Season and a Crop of Romans

The Manticore’s First Visit to Our Permission

Hi, it’s Ellie and Lucie here and this is ‘Get the Dirt’ …

It’s harvest season at last! For the metal detectorist we find ourselves constantly watching the fields, grazing our hand through the wheat and dreaming about the harvest. When it finally arrives the hobby becomes feverish, as the farming season comes to a close the digging season begins. 

Today most people won’t even notice that change in the air, that moment when combine harvesters start appearing in the corner of our eye, the buzz of activity thrumming out of the fields, the raw earthy smell of a wheat just cut. No, for most people the harvest will only cross their lives when they get angry with that tractor holding up the traffic. 

Yet this used to be one of the most important times in the year. A season that determined life or death. Our word ‘harvest’ comes from the Anglo Saxon ‘haerfest’ which meant autumn; the two are closely intertwined, with our seasons actually derived from the farming calendar. Back then a bad harvest could mean the loss of an entire community, but today most people don’t think twice about it. Unless of course you're a metal detectorist itching to get back into your favourite field.

‘It’s hard to describe the excitement I felt after a phone call to the farmer, his words were ‘Everything is out, everything has been worked, have fun!’ ‘ - Ellie

Find of the Week: A Siliqua of Valentinian I

This was our first proper test run of The Manticore, just us in our favourite field, beautiful cultivated stubble, and no distractions. And Lucie had one thing on her mind the entire day. Silver Roman. The thing that has eluded us in this field since day one. 

And it turns out that maybe The Manticore's big claims as the most powerful, fastest and precise metal detector in Minelab’s history aren’t all just a load of hot air. A strong 35 signal had Ellie stopping mid dig, just making out a circular shape in the dirt. It was immediately clear that the detail on this coin was immaculate, but it was thin, thin for a Roman and not the right colour for bronze. It appeared to be a strange hybrid between a Roman and a hammered. A Siliqua. A silver Roman coin from the 4th Century and later. 

By the 4th Century silver coinage in the Roman Empire had gotten rather complicated, well the currency in general had; inflation had caused debasements and devaluation and the silver denarius barely had any silver left in it all. So they created a new denomination that first appeared in the reign of Constantine I, one we call the Siliqua, although we have no clear evidence that was what the Romans called them. 

Siliqua were struck all over the Roman Empire, yet today with very few exceptions hoards of these coins are only found either here in Britannia or Romania. We know very little about them, their weight seems to have varied, and they are often found heavily clipped. There are several theories on this, some believe that a constant changing weight standard in Roman currency meant that older coins were simply shaved down to remain in circulation, others think they were the very first coins to be used by the Saxons and clipped to resemble their Sceat coinage. 

Ours has escaped clipping, it's a Siliqua minted under Valentinian I depicting the patron saint of Rome, Roma, on the reverse seated on a throne, holding the Goddess Victory on a globe and sceptre. A powerful Roman image from a time in the Empire where invasions and barbaric threats saw violent military campaigns. Expressing the strength and the might of Rome had never been more necessary. 

“I knew something special would be waiting for us back on the permission. Our first dig with the Manticore, and the first taste of harvest.” -Lucie

Fact of the Week: The 4th Century

The Roman Empire in the 4th Century, was one hot mess. 

Still recovering from the crises of the 3rd Century, the empire had become too large to be successfully ruled by one independent emperor. There were exceptions to this rule of course, under Constantine I and Julian, but these were rare periods in the chaos. 

Largely split between East and West, the Empire was divided in more ways than one; in ruling power, in strength and in resources. Civil wars were common as emperors fought each other for power. In fact, after the death of Constantine I, nearly 20 years of civil wars gripped the empire as his sons and nephews fought bitterly for control. 

Yet the Roman Empire simply couldn’t afford all of this infighting. Constant warfare was a huge drain on the imperial resources, making inflation and taxation out of control. Not to mention the civil wars drew their military units away from the borders. This basically left a welcome sign up for barbarians and invaders; alongside each other Rome also had to keep at bay the Germanic Tribes, the Vandals and the Visigoths. 

And alongside all of this Christianity was legalised and became the main religion by the end of the century. Some historians believed that this helped to erode Roman core values and shifted power onto a single otherworldly deity instead of within the emperor and the state itself. A dangerous notion at a time that already saw so much conflict and unrest. 

By the end of the 4th Century the Empire was divided into East and West almost indefinitely, with the West barely hanging onto control. Invaders were becoming a serious threat, even moving on to occupy whole provinces, and Christianity had started to undermine the core belief system of the state. It wouldn’t be long before it would collapse altogether.

And that was ‘Get the Dirt’, see you next week when we return to this field on the hunt for more Siliqua.