The Oxfordshire Viking Hoard –  Dr John Naylor

Last night’s talk was presented by Dr John Naylor entitled The Oxfordshire Viking Hoard.

Dr John Naylor is the National Finds Advisor for Early Medieval and Later Coinage for the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme. He is based at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

John told us the story of the Oxfordshire Viking Hoard, a collection of Viking silver, buried in the 870s and rediscovered in Watlington, Oxfordshire, England in 2015. – The hoard includes 186 coins (some fragmentary), 15 ingots and 7 pieces of jewellery, including arm-rings. It was buried after Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by Guthrum in 878, forcing the Danes to retreat north and was rediscovered by metal-detectorist James Mather in 2015. He explained in detail the history and designs on the coins and jewellery. The ingots were finger sized and probably use used as coinage for buying goods; they were almost pure silver.

He went on to compare this horde with other hordes found in England and speculated how and why it came to be buried.

More details are available in a book entitled King Alfred’s Coins: The Watlington Viking Hoard. by John Naylor and Professor Gareth Williams.

Also available as open access PDF (See below) Or as a paperback book from Amazon anywhere in the world.

 King Alfred’s Coins: The Watlington Viking Hoard. by John Naylor and Professor Gareth Williams. – On Amazon

https://geni.us/KindAlfredscoins

 King Alfred's Coins: The Watlington Viking Hoard. by John Naylor and Professor Gareth Williams.

 King Alfred’s Coins: The Watlington Viking Hoard. by John Naylor and Professor Gareth Williams – PDF

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