Good post indeed! Thanks, Dan.

I know less than I should about the various Scandinavian tribes, whether various Gothic groups, Jutes, Angles and Saxons, or later groups identified by more modern names (think the Danelaw; think Normandy). But your links give me a few more places to to check out. Just having names like Fyrkat, or cross-references to King Harald, Harald Blåtand and Harald Bluetooth gives an incentive to dig a bit deeper.

And it seems this week is “old coin trove week”. You offer this event, and this morning I read about another hoard discovered in Italy, this one in Tuscany and perhaps but not certainly buried by a Roman soldier during the unrest of Lucius Sulla.

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Every hoard find, no matter where, reminds me of Samuel Pepys at the time of the Great Fire (1666). He took to water-craft to view the extent of the fire; brought information concerning the fire’s extent and strength to King Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York; bore instructions from Charles to the Lord Mayor of London; he worked with Charles and James when they took personal charge of creating fire-breaks. But he also found time to help his colleagues at the Navy Board secure their valuables, just as he made time to move many of his own valuables from Seething Lane (his home)to safety, and then buried at least some of his gold and valued goods in his back yard. Pepys never lost his home to the Great Fire, though half of Seething Lane (an ancient street located near London Tower) did die to the flames.

He used the only recognized means of hiding valuables; he buried them. And he lucked out. So did we: those things saved from consumption largely ended in trust to Magdalene College, Cambridge. This included his Diary.

Bit of a ramble, as usual. But still happy that you brought our attention to those Danish hoards.

Cheers
Brian G