Buried Treasure 10

Hello. In January 1942, a man ploughing near Mildenhall in Suffolk spotted something shiny. He told his boss, a man called Sidney Ford, and together the pair of them dug up what turned out to be a 4th century Roman silver dinner service. Mr Ford took the pieces home. He cleaned them, he put them on display in his house. Some of them he used. And it was over four years later when the find was finally reported. Mr Ford was not best pleased when it was all taken away. He wrote, I reported my find to the police at Mildenhall and they promptly came and pinched the lot. At the subsequent coroner's inquest, the items were declared to be treasure trove, property of the crown, and they went to the British Museum. Now, under the old act of treasure trove, which has now been superseded by the Treasure Act, there was no provision for a reward to be given. Under the Treasure Act there is, but it was still customary for a reward to be paid. The idea was to encourage people to report their discoveries. In this case, because it hadn't been reported at the time, there was just a nominal reward of £1,000 each for the ploughman and for Mr Ford, penalised for not reporting. Now, the problem was the location of the site had been lost. If it had been reported at the time, then archaeologists could have uncovered clues as to how and why it had been buried and established the all-important context. Absolutely cannot condone not reporting a find like this, but perhaps we should remember it was January 1942, the dark days of the Second World War. We might also understand how exciting it would be to find something like this, and to own something like this would be quite a temptation. But having said that, certainly cannot condone not reporting it. Mr Ford, in his own defence, said he didn't know what it was. I think he knew exactly what it was. Now, the dinner service comprised mostly large pieces, all of the finest craftsmanship. There were large serving platters and a number of bowls, all highly decorated. One of the bowls was fluted, two of them had little pedestal stands, one of them had a domed top. There were also some spoons, short-handled and long-handled spoons. The star is what is known as the Great Dish, and this is it. Two feet across, it weighs over 18 pounds, very finely decorated. In the centre, we have a personification of the ocean, a sea deity. He might be Oceanus, the eldest of the Titans. It might be Neptune. His beard is seaweed and from his hair are leaping dolphins. Around him, there is a narrow frieze of nymphs, tritons and sea creatures, some real, some mythical. And then on the outer edge, there is a frieze depicting some bacchanalian revels. There is singing and dancing and drinking. If we spin it round, you can see there is one scene depicting the triumph of Bacchus over Hercules. And poor Hercules has had one too many glasses of wine and he is staggering and having to be supported by two satyrs. If we turn it a little bit further, there is a depiction of the god Bacchus himself with his panther. And if we go back the other way, you will see we also have a depiction of Pan with his pipes. Now where was something like this made? Probably in the Mediterranean. And what was it made for? Was this made purely as a showpiece, something to go on display, a work of art? Or was it intended to be used? And if so, was it something for every day or something that came out when somebody special came along, an important visitor, or it was a special occasion? We should remember that Roman dining was not like ours. They didn't sit around a table. They reclined on their elbows on their couches in their tricliniums, their dining rooms, where they were served buffet style by their servants and their slaves. There are depictions on mosaics in southern Italy and North Africa that depict dining out of doors. I suspect in Suffolk that didn't happen quite as often. But you can imagine using this silver dinner service indoors by the light of oil lamps and candles. It would have shined and glistened and sparkled and would have appeared almost magical. Now when the fine came to public notice in the 1940s, it caused some controversy. There were academics who would not believe that something this fine could ever be used in Roman Britain. But fine since, and particularly the Hoxham treasure that we looked at in the last session, have showed that Britain as a province of the Roman Empire might have been on the edge, but it was no poor relation. The elite, the very wealthy in Roman Britain lived every bit as well as the elite and the wealthy in Rome itself. Why was it buried? How was it buried? Clearly someone was intending to come back for it. Whether it was buried for safekeeping, whether it was the proceeds of a robbery, stolen property, we don't know. The clues that might have helped us decide that are not available because of that non-reporting. But it's likely that it was buried in the fourth century, maybe early in the fifth century, and that could point to the time when Roman authority over Britain fades and we cease to become a province of the empire and are faced with a wave of attacks from Anglo-Saxons and the Picts and the Irish. That could be an explanation. Now I'm going to stay in Roman Britain next time, but this time early Roman Britain, and this time looking at objects that tell us about everyday life for ordinary people. If you've enjoyed this video, hit the like and subscribe buttons and click on the notification bell to be informed when the next video is published.