![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/hoards\/files\/2025\/06\/thetford-merge.png\")
In her study, Ellen carefully re-examined the objects from Thetford and compared them with other known finds from Britain and Europe. Several objects from the treasure were thoughts to have designs with no close parallels but Ellen has found many well-dated comparative examples from grave and hoard finds in Europe. Crucially, her research has shown that some of the finger-rings and spoons could not have been made until the fifth century meaning that the hoard was buried much later than the currently accepted date.<\/p>\n A number of the spoons have inscriptions dedicating them to the pagan god Faunus, and so the revised burial date for the hoard importantly suggests the survival of a pagan cult centre at Thetford into the early fifth century. Religious sites like this, which were clearly wealthy and powerful, to judge by the value and variety of objects present in the treasure, probably wielded a great amount of influence in their region within post-Roman society, filling the power vacuum left by the collapse of Roman government in Britain.<\/p>\n Ellen\u2019s research has drawn into question many of the long-held assumptions of this key transition period and we are aiming to build on this from our reassessment of other late Roman hoards. You can read Ellen\u2019s full article for free here<\/a>. There is also a feature on Ellen\u2019s research in this month\u2019s Current Archaeology<\/a> magazine.<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n Catherine Johns and Timothy Potter, The Thetford Treasure: Roman Jewellery and Silver (British Museum: London, 1983)<\/p>\n Ellen Swift, \u2018Rethinking the date and interpretation of the Thetford treasure: a 5th<\/sup>-c hoard of gold jewellery and silver spoons\u2019, Journal of Roman Archaeology 37:2 (2024), pp. 409-448.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/hoards\/files\/2025\/05\/1298246001.jpg\")