The Le Câtillon Hoards

What was then the largest hoard of Celtic coins ever discovered turned up on the island of Jersey in 2012. The finders were two metal detectorists, Reg Mead and Richard Miles, who started searching for it around 1980:

Over 30 years ago a lady told Reg that when she was a girl, her father was removing a hedgerow between fields when he disturbed a small pot of silver coins. She remembers following the tractor after each ploughing and picking up more coins which she took to school and swapped for comics. From her description of the coins Reg knew they were from the Iron Age. The search was on.

This comes from a pdf brochure for school children put out by Jersey Heritage. which actually has a lot of good information. The story is wonderful on many levels; imagine some sinister, mustache-twirling villain saying, Little Girl, how about trading that worthless little coin you can't even use in a shop for this slightly used Spider Man 45? Wikipedia adds the detail that the farmer would only let the metal detectorists on his property "once a year for 10–15 hours after the crops had been harvested," which adds to the picture of their grim determination. I imagine Reg and Richard consulting anxiously by phone every year as the date approached, driving by the field every day to make sure they didn't miss the harvest.

This discovery is sometimes called the Grouville Hoard, after the parish within which it was found, but its more usual name is Le Câtillon II. As for Le Câtillon I, well, that is something the good people of Jersey do not talk about. About that discovery they feel only embarrassment for letting a valuable hoard discovered in 1957 disappear into private collections around the world. Wikipedia says the current status of the hoard is "dispersed, but the La Hougue Bie Museum has a few coins." For shame. I cannot even find out if Le Câtillon I was the same as the pot full of coins reported by "a lady." I would show you a picture but I can't find any; if you Google "Le Câtillon I" you get "Showing Results for Le Câtillon II."

Incidentally the location of the Le Câtillon II discovery was supposed to be secret, but somebody let on, because Jersey Heritage recently applied for a permit to thoroughly explore the whole area around it, because they fear looting by metal detectorists they referred to as "night walkers."

As soon as they found the hoard, Reg and Richard notified the authorities – another victory for the British Antiquities Scheme – and archaeologists arrived. The hoard was buried in a pit a meter deep. It was found fused into a mass measuring approximately 140cm by 70cm, and 15cm thick. From the outside the excavators could already see that it contained gold torcs and other goodies besides coins. They also found pottery, post holes, and daub, so they think it may have been buried under a building. After pondering the massive block of metal they decided to remove the whole thing at once with a hoist and take it back to the lab for processing.

Because the massive thing looked so cool, the archaeologists actually considered leaving it intact and displaying it as it. But the desire of scholars for the details of the contents won out over the prospect of a blockbuster display object, and it was disassembled and conserved over a period of three years. Jersey purchased the hoard from its discoverers for £4.25m.

Incidentally the mass of corroded metal also preserved a lot of botanical data, like this fern, which the conservators say will allow them to determine the season when it was buried and what the surrounding area looked like.

The hoard was originally dated to around 50 BC, and the discoverers wanted it to have been buried during Caesar's conquest of Gaul. But then some British coins were found that have traditionally dated to 40 to 30 BC, which would push the date forward. Reading between the lines I think the hoard's excavators have not given up on their dating, since they keep repeating that those British coins have been "traditionally dated to 40 to 30 BC." 

The whole thing is now on display in the La Hougue Bie Museum. I have to imagine that these bags are mostly full of styrofoam, and the point of this exhibit is just to make you fantasize about bags full of loot. Still, if the size of the bags is accurate this is a good way to help people imagine the size of the hoard.

Love these gold baubles.

What a remarkable thing to have found in a field, and how delightful that its discovers followed up on their clues so doggedly.