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From: This is Norfolk 17/12/2003
Iron age treasure could stay in Norfolk
Hopes have been expressed that an Iron Age hoard of gold coins, which were found in Norfolk, could eventually have a permanent home in the county.
The mud-filled end of a cow's leg bone containing 20 Gallo-Belgic E coins or staters, which date from 60-50 BC, was unearthed at the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP), near Hunstanton, in the summer.
Nineteen other coins have been discovered at the site of the annual excavation – 11 this year and eight in previous years – making 39 in total.
The hoard, brought by light by metal detectorist Kevin Woodward, has caused widespread interest in archaeological circles and is being hailed as the most important find in the dig's history.
Today King's Lynn coroner William Knowles established it as treasure, having been satisfied that the coins were made of gold and more than 300 years old.
The verdict means the hoard is officially the property of the Queen - but the owner of the land where they were discovered, Professor Bernard Campbell of Sedgeford Hall, and the finder are entitled to their value, which will be decided by a committee at the British Museum.
Although the coins are still being analysed, they could be worth around £200 each.
Speaking after the hearing, SHARP co-director Chris Mackie revealed that the British Museum had not expressed a particular interest in acquiring the hoard and it was also unlikely to go the Castle Museum in Norwich.
"What we would dearly love is for Professor Campbell to give it to Lynn Museum at King's Lynn," he said. "That would be the ideal solution. So many things have disappeared from West Norfolk. But we are still evaluating everything and nothing is final."
Mr Woodward, who was spending his third year as a volunteer worker on the project, came across the bone in the water-logged end of the dig on August 12 – just a few days before the end of the eighth SHARP season.
An X-ray at the Sandringham Hospital in Lynn subsequently showed up its remarkable contents.
Coins were found stored in a bone in Yorkshire in the early 1800s but these were a mixture of Roman and Iron Age varieties, making the Sedgeford discovery unique.
It is not yet clear why the staters, which were struck in northern France, ended up in their unusual resting place.
They could be interpreted as a votive offering to the gods - or the mercenary payment to chieftains and warrior bands who had returned to Norfolk after fighting the armies of Julius Caesar.
SHARP, which aims ultimately to build up a complete history of Sedgeford, began in 1996 and has involved the extensive evacuation of a Saxon cemetery in the valley of the Heacham River.
Around 200 skeletons – and evidence of an Iron Age settlement – have so far been uncovered.
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