Hoards, Hounds and Helmets

Hoards, Hounds and Helmets.

Score, V.

Hardback. 302 pp. Illustrated. Leicester Archaeology Monograph 21.
Leicester Archaeology. 2011.

Survey and excavation between 2001 and 2009 at Hallaton, Leicestershire have revealed a hilltop ritual site with numerous special deposits of metalwork and animal bones, many of them dating to the time of the Roman invasion in AD 43.
Offerings probably began in the later 1st century BC and include at least 16 hoards of Iron Age gold and silver coins.

Other metal finds included parts of Roman cavalry helmets, a silver bowl and silver and copper alloy ingots. The discovery of numerous pig bones outside the entranceway and the composition of the individual coin hoards strongly suggest that the site drew people from all over the region at specific times to participate in communal rituals and feasting.