Roman Treasures of Iron Age Scotland
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
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Summary
In 1919, excavators working near Edinburgh in Scotland unearthed the largest hoard of Roman hacksilver ever found. The trove, containing mostly silver vessels but also some personal items and coins, was probably buried in the early 5th century AD - just as the legions were finally pulling out of Britannia.
The treasures - found at the ancient hillfort site of Traprain Law - shine a fascinating light on the connections between the Iron Age peoples of what is now Scotland and the rest of the Roman Empire.
In this episode Tristan is joined by archaeologist Dr Fraser Hunter, Principal Curator at the National Museum of Scotland, who shares his passionate insights into the Traprain Law Treasure and what it tells us about late Roman Britain.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's The Entrance on History Hit. |
| 0:16.0 | I'm Tristan Hughes, your host and in today's podcast, I'm recording this intro from the |
| 0:20.4 | Royal Armories and Leeds, wrap up the Royal Armories today to film some Roman chariots |
| 0:25.4 | to look at gladiators to all come into history hit in due course. |
| 0:30.8 | But today's podcast episode is nothing to do with that. |
| 0:34.8 | We're talking about Iron Age Britain once again. |
| 0:37.0 | It was wonderful to see how well received our episodes on Iron Age Wales and on Iron Age |
| 0:41.4 | Britain have been over the past month or so. |
| 0:44.6 | And now we're heading north to Iron Age Scotland. |
| 0:47.7 | We're focusing in on a particular horde of silver objects discovered near the modern |
| 0:53.4 | city near the beautiful capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. |
| 0:57.5 | This is the Traprane Treasure. |
| 1:00.2 | Dating to late in the Roman period in Britain, it shines a light on these connections |
| 1:05.5 | between Iron Age peoples in Monmouth Scotland and the wider Roman Empire. |
| 1:11.6 | Now to talk through all of this, the Traprane Treasure, this great treasure of Iron Age |
| 1:16.2 | Scotland, I was delighted to interview Dr Fraser Hunter. |
| 1:21.4 | Here's a curator at the National Museum of Scotland. |
| 1:24.6 | He's presented documentaries on TV before. |
| 1:27.0 | He's a legend. |
| 1:28.0 | He's a wonderful speaker. |
| 1:29.5 | And he talks through this topic with such passion, with such interest. |
| 1:34.8 | It was just a delight to have him on the pod for this extraordinary part of Iron Age Scotland's |
... |
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