The Mystery Of This Roman Treasure Hoard Found in Britain
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- 'The Mystery Of This Roman Treasure Hoard Found in Britain'
History Hit's Tristan Hughes has special access to the Ryedale Hoard: A Roman Mystery exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum to speak to the people responsible for its discovery and investigate these incredible Roman artefacts.
Featuring the remarkable 1,800 year old bust of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Ryedale Hoard has been described as Yorkshire’s most significant Roman discovery. Offering a rare insight into Romano British life in Yorkshire, these unique artefacts help shed light on a period shrouded in mystery. But one question still remain: who was responsible for burying them?
#RyedaleHoard #AncientRome #HistoryHit
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It’s such a relief to have a UA-cam history channel that can tell a hoard from a horde!
@Zippy Thekid Can't see the relevance.
Horde, on the other hand, refers to a large group of loosely organized people.
Someone robbed somewhere - buried it, and never got back to pick it up. Or, as a mate of mine did once, buried something valuable while shitfaced and never found it again.
I wholeheartedly support this theory. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one. Not some romantic notion.
Best I've heard.
As one does...
I lean towards retired soldier who became a farmer.
Seriously? 😂 people do not change
The plumb bob could easily have also been left by a soldier. The Army also surveyed and laid out roads, fortifications and buildings. The plumb bob was not only functional, but is completely unlike the other items in that it is purely functional and lacks any decoration at all. I have a plumb bob of brass in my own dig kit.
York really is one of the best places to visit in Britain, and it has some of the best antique shops with great roman stuff too
Nice to see Mark Didlick in the video. Well done Lucy for speaking about the pieces. This collection is affectionately known as the Barnitt Bits after the ironmongers in York . The David Aaron Gallery deserves a mention that their kindness and generosity that it ever came back to York .
I really admire Lucy's eloquence and how she transmits to the audience the actual value of that period in history, which is symbolized/evoked by these objects, mainly because of their political charge. Brava Lucy! Cannot wait to hear you speak about your next project, if only it's about antiquity and with the same pertinence and passion.
There have been occasions when craftspeople have visited a museum exhibit where the scholars had labelled something as 'unknown' or given a use with a ? after it or, even worse, 'ritual object', and the craftsperson says 'but that's part of a -----. I have one at home.
(Nor will I forget standing just behind a couple in a major exhibition of Dutch Genre painting, where the bloke was explaining to his protesting partner that he knew damn well the date on the painting was wrong because the gun the guy in the picture was shooting had a mechanism that wasn't introduced until 20 years later. It's not something an art expert would have taken into account.)
@@PartlySunny74 sometimes these people,and it is in no way to be taken as negative or even ansty, can not see a tree because of the forest. OR because - they- said it was like that, and -there - it was mentioned it msut have been like that, it was also -this- for sure like this?
Like with the Pyramids. Archeologists say "They're temples " or what ever, then engineers look at it like "Um, this is technology Brah"
@@santoss.8150 and both groups still don't know when they were built, how it was done and why...
A Roman saying- "Death is the measure of all things." The presence of a plumb bob among the hoard may indicate through metaphoric allusion of a burial nearby.
The resemblance of the staff head to Marcus Aurelius is pronounced and very clear to me. The chances that it is intended to me him is virtually certain. The way the hair and beard of Aurelius is depicted is repeated over and over in Antiquity and would have known across the Empire. Aurelius is among my favorite emperors. He was a hard working man of great integrity and skill. He was a great force for good, a person of pronounced moral character who sheltered hi subjects as best he could from the excesses and abuses of the past. He was slowly succeeding in his reforms of his empire, at a critical time in it's history. His rule stopped the decline of the Western Empire while his rule lasted. If he had not died of the Antonine Plague while on campaign world history would likely have taken a very different, better path, and Europe would not have needed 1000 years to fully recover from the decline in economic output, living standards, and public education it suffered after the Fall of Rome.
Unfortunately he was followed by one of the worst emperors, and corruption in the highest echelons of government soon erased the sound basis for recovery he had laid and the progress he had made in tapprox. wenty years of rule. This became a repeating pattern in the Western Empire's remaining history, as the remaining good emperors were assassinated before their time by the selfish, the uncaring, and the greedy, and their good works undone. e.g the reign of Majorian, etc.
I think it may have been buried by a veteran soldier turned farmer after retirement The Emperor would have been his leader, Mars his god, the plumb bob his tool and the broken key possibly one from his home So put them all together and he is asking for protection of his home and land
Yeah....no.
Or unwanted junk
I love this idea. Thanks for suggesting it!
Spoken like an archaeologist
Well done Tristan and team, and to the two lads who unearthed these wonderful artefacts; if ever there was a reason to be a proud Yorkshireman, this is it. A grand contribution to culture. God's own county thanks you! 👍
Dr. Lucy is easy to listen to about a subject she is passionate about. Enjoyed this video. Wish I could visit one day.
I like England's value-sharing law, where the finders, get a nice pile of cold hard cash.
In Sweden, finders gets a Fuck you, maybe some change and sometimes maybe a rapport to the police.
@@Sarsgnu because if people go around digging up archaeological remains to get rewards they will destroy any scientific knowledge that could be gained from excavating it rigorously. There are good reasons for this.
@@espling but if detectorists don’t get out and find them they will eventually just rott to dust and won’t ever be found.
@@letsgetdigging7418 That is not the case. If they have not already corroded they are probably preserved in waterlogged oxygen-poor conditions were they can be preserved for a very long time. Deteriation starts as soon as excavation starts so usually you want to be as prepared as possible when starting an excavation to minimize the damage to the artefacts - in either case the knowledge gained from excavation, seeing objects in their context, is more valuable than the artefacts as objects. It is even so that many known sites are not excavated because we know that as technology advances we will be able to use better excavation techniques in the future - therefore the idea that we have to excavate things as soon as possible is a mistake. It is also, of course, a matter of funding, but we absolutely do not need a monetary incentive for people to dig up archaeological remains.
It's a great system, the vast majority of detectorists do it because they love history, most the the great archaeological finds for many years have been made by people with metal detectors, all but pure gold deteriorates in the ground so the sooner it's found the better, objects can be broken by the plough, crushed by heavy machinery or the land can be built on.
Can you imagine if all objects just deterioated in no time, we'd know so much less about the past. I guess the people of the future won't know much about what we are now, as it seems not much is made to last these days. Great content History Hit! Thanks! :D
You're a comedian and a scholar.
They will be able to know of our existence solely based on how much plastic and non biodegradable waste they unearth.
@@KvltKrist haha, yeah I almost included that in my original comment. They'll probably think we worshipped a Marvel superhero character from the plastic figurine they discover. In a way, many do these days, so the people of the future would make pretty accurate assessments from what they discover. In a way one can say that we can know who we really are now by simply knowing what we will leave behind for the future to discover.
I mean there are so many items that do deteriorate quickly, like wood and other organic materials. There’s so much early history lost just in items like that.
Plastic! Future generations will know us through our laundry detergent! LOL Funny but Sad-
@@mrdeliberate5175 Exactly, I'm imagining a bunch of Archeologist in future would dig up my figures of scantily clad anime women and think it's some Religious Idol depicting a fertility goddess or something....
As a American land surveyor, I drooled when I first saw that plumb bob. The young surveyors rarely or never use plumb bobs, with the optical plumb and such for speed and accuracy. m
Imagine how many buildings and artefacts have been built over, lost forever
The plum bob would have been the precision instrument of the time. You wouldn't look at a Vernier of today and say it was little used because it was in such good condition.
Perhaps even back then it would have been correctly termed a 'plumb bob' . . . [plumbium - Latin word for lead]
What if it was a thief on the run dumping the evidence to come back to it later? And then they didn't.
That was exactly my first thought!
Or hiding evidence of another crime?
This is much more plausible than "ritual offerings" they always come up with.. lol
@@The_Deaf_Aussie Since the agenda is to get everyone into the occult, they have to interject it into everything these days...
I completely agree. The random variety and the fact that there isn't any evidence of any structures in the area.
Fun fact, the name York actually comes from an old Scandinavian name, Jorvik. The vikings named it!
I prefer Eoforwic.
Eboracum of Roman Britain, long before.
@@παυροεπής The Vikings would have found a corruption of that name by the time they arrived, altering it to suit themselves.
@@παυροεπής
True, and I personally would pronounce it EbOracum - not Ebor-Acum, like was done here, but that's just me.
No, the best fun fact about York (for me) is what the Vikings unintentionally left behind(!) for archaeologists to discover. I'll never forget the front cover of an issue of New Scientist with the picture of a researcher holding what very clearly looks like a large turd.
Remember there was a professional branch of the Roman Army that specialized in surveying of the forts, roads and cities Rome built. So the farmer could of been a retired engineering specialist, making the offering. A villa or farm style buildings near by would add to the hypothesis.
aye. Would've been nice if they'd talked more about the area where the objects were found. Time Team proved that there are loads of Roman villas and outposts buried just below the dirt in fields all over England, and many farmers don't even realize that they're destroying invaluable historial structures every time they work the fields
Wow, great find, but imagine the other hoards that are still hiding just under the earth, Cheers from DownUnder.
Why would a builder's tool (plumb bob) make you think these artifacts were put there by a farmer? I'm not an archaeologist but it seems to me these objects may have been taken (either stolen or battle loot) by a local purely for the metal they were made of and perhaps he simply dropped them while fleeing.
Early Amazon. Shipping was slower in those days, of course
I agree.
i agree, except that the plumb bob is probably a military artifact of great utility and therefore not likely to be scrap unless stolen. As for sacrificial offering by a farmer - the value of the metal would probably feed him and family for a year. This conclusion defies logic.
@@robertmcalpin2304 While plumb bobs were used by the military they are no more "military artifacts" than a modern level or tape measure would be. As I said, most likely these artifacts were dropped by someone fleeing after either stealing them or taking them as battle loot.
As ever, beyond what the item is, archaeology involves a lot of speculation and assumption.
UK/Europe have rich history of civilization. Must be so many items buried all over. 🇦🇺
Things like this are popping up all the time in the UK. Just last week it was reported that a fine gold necklace from the bronze age was found in North of the country. Archaeologists have said it the most important and valuable bronze age necklace ever found in the UK.
Two weeks ago and guy found a bronze bull head in Scotland. Just look for metal detecting uk bull head
"There's little evidence of wear" tell me that you've never used a plumb bob nor seen it in its typical protective case
Yeah that was dumb
You're about 2000yrs out of date mate! 🤠
@@gregmacdonald7710 more like 3,500. But anyway you're comment doesn't mean shit. He never questioned how long the plumb bob had been in use for
"Craftspersonship" boo
Stupid propaganda inlayed in everything these days... it sucks
this makes me realise, Visit York!! 🙂 (never been up there)
thankyou for sharing this..
You have Lucy back. She was very passionate about her work, and a natural in front of the camera!
Definitely a Soldier completing one journey & starting another..
Does no one understand that the phrase "begging the question" does not mean asking an obvious question? It refers to asking a question that has already been asked and answered. Please somebody get this right just once, I beg you.
Why ?
@@Fatbodypyle Out of respect to Marcus Aurelius who would carefully avoid doing it.
What is the evidence that this hoard had any connection to a Roman practice of magic? Creighton first states that archaeological remains of such magical practices are difficult to find. Then she goes on to assert there might be magical elements to the burial. Such as? What is it about the burial that suggests the magical elements? What are some alternative explanations?
I've just been reading about Roman religious practices, and where we see religion as a specific part of life, they saw it in everything all the time. An offering was a way of buying favour through a 'magical' interaction with the gods. She didn't really explain it well
No professional should be making assumptions like that... I don't know of any other examples of an emperor's head being used as an offering and it probably would have been considered akin to blasphemy...
Archeological Rule #1: When in doubt- "ritual".
@@Frank-mm2yp Many times that is the answer but not this time I believe... that is just a cache of bronze...
I loved the questions on how the bust was positioned the earth
Absolutely wonderful find. Way to go York!❤️
So if I am not mistaken, when roman soldiers ended their service, I believe they just stayed in Britton. So this could have been a former soldier turned farmer which would explain military items along with building items.
I love the narration by Lucy Creighton! I hope we get to see and hear more from her!!
She should tone down her superlatives, it's unprofessional, not everything can be fantastic and amazing. It leaves no room to describe perfection
To me it seems like she's bigging up the museum for the tourist trade.
@@harryzero1566 I think it is a northern thing, as someone from Cambridgeshire I find that the northern people speak with such unkempt and commonness
she talks like she is reading to a 3 year-old
Captain Hindsight are you for real? A southern toss pot or a troll?
Or, these were a child's treasures. Children often collect bits and bobs and keep them hidden. They've even been known to bury such treasures to protect them, and often forget where they've buried them.
>> Tom's Ukrainian/American wife Pam
"999 What is your emergency ?"....."I heard someone use the term Ro MAN"
🤣
The mars horse rider looks more like a Mongolian rider as they are famous for their horsemanship . The person who collected these figures had an appreciation for dramatic sculpture.
Great to see this from my own countyand can't help but think there must be plenty more waiting to be unearthed in the future.
Several Hundreds of years from now, Archeologist might uncover my figures of scantily clad anime women and they might think it's a religious figure depicting some fertility goddess or something....
It's a metal doll's head, signified by the 3 holes (see modern metal dolls heads). The back of the head is hairless for a small doll's wig. With two toy horses. The plumb was from his father.
I think it was wrapped with a string and spun as a top.
Here is my recollection of how these objects came to be found together...
During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, many battles were fought and won, bringing glory and treasure to The Roman Empire.
As one of the ‘Good Emperors’, Marcus valued the contribution of his loyal officers over the years. He commissioned the construction of a soldiers’ retirement home. Many of his veterans were now too long in the tooth to manage their own properties. This would be a fitting monument to the Glory of Roman conquest.
He tasked a builder (owner of the plumb bob), and a military emissary (carrier of the sceptre-mounted bust of Marcus Aurelius), to locate a suitable site to build the soldiers’ retirement home in the foothills of York.
After finding the perfect site, they dedicated it to their Emperor and made offerings to the God Mars in a site-blessing ceremony (using the small bronze statue of Mars.)
They set out the layout of the building and located the position of the door where the horse head key would one day secure the entrance.
Unfortunately, just as they were about to commence construction, the Antonine plague of 165AD strafed the land, causing the deaths of five to ten million people… including Marcus’ builder and scepter bearer.
Construction of the retirement home was placed on hold. The plumb bob, Emperor's bust, statue of Mars and horse head key were buried at the doorway of the proposed building in a modest ceremony by a group of Marcus’ loyal officers. Their hope was that one day when the dust had settled, their beloved Emperor would dispatch a team to construct the building. 15 years later, (180 AD, Marcus Aurelius died, and with him, the will to honour those soldiers in that way.
Today, the World has experienced what it’s like for plans to be put on ice, thanks to a Global pandemic.
Sometimes things just get lost in the shuffle, right? 😉
@@tomhirons7475 Sorry. It’s not rubbish night tonight. Please return on Thursday to collect my bins.
You got me. It was me.
Looking forward to this one unfolding! Great find!
Truly a fascinating find !
Somebody made some sculptures..now we think they are magic..brilliant.
Somewhere, there's a Horse Rear End still running loose.
When they discuss theories for the burial of a hoard they forget that any metallic or heavy object would over time sink into the earth even if left on the surface in a remote place.
"Craftspersonship" good lord.
I agree, it's quite a liberty to take with otherwise straightforward loquaciation.
I can't understand why we can't all agree that man in these contexts is just short for human.
Humanity really doesn't stand a chance.
Ridiculous and I am a woman.
It’s amazing isn’t it? It’s like language actually evolves and changes!
Aliens! Why do "the people in the know" come up with such complicated hypothesis? Roman ratbag forgot where he buried his loot.
The plumb bob is beautiful in its application…perfectly formed.
The aerial footage at 9.01 definitely ain't Yorkshire
As a Yorkshireman i agree 👍
This was so interesting. Thank you from South Africa 💫
Fascinating, absolutely mesmerized, however Tristan Hughes makes my mind wonder in a whole different direction ;)
I would offer a hypothesis that the items were buried by a roman engineer in the army. This is a possibility that would link all the items together.
Probably from a survey team that buried the items in a rush, perhaps while threatened and then didn't make it back to retrieve them. The bob was used in Roman survey devices, the staff was probably the supervisor's. Not everything needs to be related to the gods.
Don't say craftpersonship FFS that's a literal meme.
Who knew Roman artifacts were such a hotbed of interest for idiots and radfems.
WOW, the plumb bob at 7:17 is amazing, I have an identical one which I think is in brass, though I have no idea where I got it from. The only difference is mine doesn't have those rings inscribed in the top
What’s with the ‘craftpersonship’?
Nice to see how this Museum appreciates the find, it would be lost in a box in the British Museum.
It would be so worthy if the British Museum donated about 50% of their boxed artifacts to other museums throughout Britain, Whales, Scotland, and gave ALL Irish Artifacts back to Ireland.
What the hoard is so Lower Minded and it goes generations w/o sunlight. That should be realized for its true statement of Ego.
Looks remarkably like phonecian work though. Specifically their blue-green glass face pendants. 🤷♂️
Dont most Roman busts, with inlayed eye pieces, include the white portion?
I'm surprised to see that 4 items are considered a hoard. Having no education on this subject I wonder about what is or is not considered a proper hoard. Or the process of determining such a classification
the part of their speculation of the 'why' regarding these objects is severely lacking: They don't say anything about the area where they were found, which is rather important. Also that area was invaded by Normans, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons after the Romans left, neither of which cared much about the Roman beliefs or values. Either one of them, or anyone in more modern times, could've found the objects and gathered them up. As these objects apparently were found in the surface soil there's no way to know how long they've been there. It could just as easily have been some kids in medieval times who found them and played with them, and just left them there.
They could have done carbon dating from the soil on the items.
amazing! thankyou for this video x
Brilliant!......Ta!
Really enjoyed watching it shame james couldn’t make it to give his view
Magical, ritualistic. Lazy, utter pish.
Fantastic fantastic fantastic
"Craftspersonship" 😅 glad she said that so we'd know it might be one of the famous women sculptors from antiquity.
There were several that we know of.
Wonderful, thank you.
The diverse nature of the finds suggests it is a scrap metal hoard of a thief, who took advantage of fowl play on the road, and did not live to profit from his efforts.
Its so weird seeing a museum in Britain actually showing British antiquities.
Clearly you haven't been to many
@@user-si7ig6ul7l always wondered why so many south asian things were lying in London.
@@rustomkanishka The most numerous being south asian peopple who choose to come to this country for the advantages and benefits it can give them.
@@rustomkanishka Sure they're Asian? VIctorian times had a big popular trend for all things Asian.
Loved it
0:16 - "Emperor, are you sure you want to pose in such a...homosexualish fashion?" "But look how tough I look with my big ol' sword, silly!" "Okay, you're the boss."
craftspersonship........ wholy fuck.
Instead of house keys, the Roman's had horse keys.......imagine that?! 🤷♀️
When I first saw the objects I thought they were children's toys. Wouldn't surprise me one bit that whatever their origins they were used as toys by a young child and then buried by them as their precious treasures.
Exactly what I think too!
Metal work is expensive. They wouldn't give that to a child.
@@benjalucian1515 I doubt they would have been given, but children find broken and discarded things and use them as toys even today.
@@SevCaswell True, but I'm sure the parents would have missed the plumb bob.
@@benjalucian1515 If I am remembering the video correctly, it's been a while, these items were not found with much context, so could easily have been found and buried some time after the romans left, so might not even know what a plumbob even is.
Whilst looking up 'craftpersonship' in the directory of English words and phrases - I also happened upon the term 'sex on legs' and wouldn't you know it - there was a picture of Tristan Hughes!
turns out craftpersonship wasn't in there though I'm afraid.
I think they are all broken & would have been ready to be melted down, I think the trader buried them prior to heading into town as town would have been dangerous, he didn’t get back or his marker disappeared 🤔 and I should have watched the entire video before offering my view 😮 I do however believe my theory as I scrap stuff myself and that plumb is heavy
My guess=the objects were robbed & stashed after the gems were removed.
I'm thinking it was a farmer who used to be a soldier. That would explain the statute of his patron god Mars. He was granted land upon his retirement and he settled down to farm. While a soldier, he was one of the surveyors who designed roads for the Roman army, hence the nice plumb bob and he had the honor of carrying the sculpted head of Marcus Aurelius in a procession honoring the Divine Marcus Aurelius, which might have made the person who buried this a freedman. Only during the reign of Marcus Aurelius were slaves and freedmen allowed into the Roman army. The key might have been to a lockbox of his savings. Then when he retired, he buried it all as a symbol of all who he was now in his final home. IMO.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for the good show.
Absolutely!
all good until she said "craftspersonship"
I wonder if Romans found Bronze Age artifacts when doing their building?
Dunno about calling it a hoard it’s only 4 objects. A hoard is many many objects like a pot full of coins etc…
More of a hoardette.
York was called Eboracum by the Romans.
just found this channel and great stuff..... then at 23 10 into it there is a weird shot of houses and a limestone langscape !
Where is it ?
I go with Occam's Razor - this was metal scrap to be recycled by a Roman metalsmith. People try so hard to attribute spiritual or magical significance to ancient debris.
I really don't think that plumb bob was 'debris' ....it is a functional item in quality condition and would not have been scrapped.
Plumb bobs have changed little in 2000 years. That plumb bob would still be of use to a modern carpenter, and would be right at home in his tool box. It would even work with a chalk line.
That plumb bob is as likely to have been used by a legionary as a farmer. Roman soldiers were experienced engineers and builders.
Very interesting
At the risk of being too simplistic in my idea, explanation and interpretation of the purpose of all these objects,here goes! I feel that they were simply basic child’s toys! There is a spinning top, toy soldiers on horseback , a metal head of a doll that can be sewn to a fabric body. It makes more sense to me as to the reason these were found all together.Being made of metal for a rich Roman children perhaps!
The metal work is pretty expensive.
Total punt but I'm more inclined to think Hadrien, the statue could be Hadrien, Hadrien was often depicted riding horses ( coin collection in British museum shows Hadrien riding a horse, I can't think of any real examples of mars riding a horse, I may be wrong) the plum Bob has building links, he didn't just build the wall he built alot of things in Britain, maybe its to do with the 9th legion disbanding? They were replaced in york by the 6th legion between 120-122ad during Hadriens reign. Like I said total punt....the key horse, I dunno?? Magic?? Lmao
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You can tell it's Marcus straight away
Intriguingly, something that is missing in the same area at the same time, is the Roman 9th Legion. The connection may be that the 9th Legion did depart to go to the Netherlands, or had planned to.. . .Since the Boudica thing, the 9th was weak, and probably continued to exist only because its HQ was encouraging trade, immigration, farming, commercial enterprises, with the Anglo , Saxon ,Jute peoples and the "roman" (or anglosaxon.. ) forts and ports at England. A 2nd century map indicates the 9th is based in what is now the Netherlands. But the Scots were not far from Yorkshire and could easily raid York... so whether the 9th actually made it to Netherlands, or got wiped out.. ? Maybe the hoard can tell us. Maybe it was just loot from grave robbing, that the owner had to hide, as the romans VI legion do come in and re-garrison the area.
Could be that some legions in the northern provinces where split so maybe they went to the netherlands to act as a mobile field army against germans so other legions could join campaigns in gaul while some detachments of the 9th stayed in britannia as a minimum defense, i dont think the romans would pull so many soldiers from britain before they left britain all together.
“Craftpersonship”?
I felt the touch of the kings and the breath of the wind.
I knew the call of all the song birds;
They sang all the wrong words.
I'm waiting for you ...