Roman coin from the sea off Lulworth Cove
The discovery of two Roman coins off the Dorset coast may point the way to a previously unrecorded Roman shipwreck.
In, or before, 1983 Ian Finlay, a scallop diver, found two Roman coins (one broken) on the sea bed off Lulworth Cove. He reported the find to Mike Markey of the Poole Bay Archaeological Research Group who arranged for the site, as identified by Mr Finlay, to be investigated. Divers searched the area without finding any further archaeological material, additional searches in 1993 proved to be similarly negative.
In the autumn of 2002 one coin was passed to the author (the half coin has apparently been lost) This was subsequently identified as a Billon Tetradrachm which had been minted in Alexandria in the late 2nd or early 3rd century. The distribution of this type of coin was apparently generally confined to the eastern regions of the Empire and is not commonly found in the west.
This coin is not the only Roman object to have been found off Lulworth Cove, an anchor and bottle having been found in 1966 (Farrar 1970) . As with the coin the area was searched in 1967 and again in 1985, with negative results. (Southampton University 1985).
Despite the lack of additional finds, the existence of one or more Roman shipwrecks off Lulworth Cove remains a possibility. The presence of the finds certainly lends credence to the idea that Lulworth Cove served as a small port during the Roman period, as it almost certainly did during the Iron Age (Farrar 1950, Wheeler 1953, Markey et al. 2002)
The coin has been passed to the Dorset County Museum with the consent of the Receiver of Wreck.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mike Markey of the Poole Bay Archaeological Research Group for information on earlier surveys in the Lulworth Cove area. Ed Cumming of the Weymouth Underwater Archaeology Group who passed the coin to me and Elaine Howard-Jones, Finds Liaison Officer for Dorset who identified the coin.
References
Farrar, R.A.H. 1950 An early Iron Age Beach-head at Bindon Hill, West Lulworth. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 72. 80-2
Farrar, R.A.H. 1970 A stone anchor from Lulworth Cove Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 92.158
Markey, M., Wilkes, E. & Darvill, T. 2002 Poole Harbour, an Iron Age Port. Current Archaeology 181, 7-9
Wheeler, Sir Mortimer 1953 An Early Iron Age `beach-head at Lulworth, Dorset Archaeological Journal 33(1-2) 1-13
Southampton University 1985 Lulworth Cove Reef, A survey carried out by members of Southampton University and Bracknell Sub-aqua Clubs.
This paper originally published as;
Le Pard, G.F. 2002 Roman Coin from the sea off Lulworth Cove Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 124.12
