ISBN: | 978-5-5082-7711-6 |
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Mildenhall Treasure is a major hoard of highly decorated Roman silver tableware from the fourth-century AD, found at West Row, near Mildenhall in the English county of Suffolk. It consists of two large serving platters, two small decorated serving plates, a deep fluted bowl, a set of four large decorated bowls, two small decorated bowls, two small pedestalled dishes, a deep flanged bowl with a deep, domed cover, five small round ladles with dolphin-shaped handles, and eight long-handled spoons (cochlearia). The hoard was discovered while ploughing in January 1942 by Gordon Butcher, who removed it from the ground with help from Sydney Ford, for whom he was working at the time. They did not recognise the objects for what they were, and the hoard did not come to the attention of the authorities until 1946. An inquest was held in the summer of that year, when the find was declared Treasure Trove and acquired by the British Museum in London. Many details of the discovery remained uncertain, not least because it took place in wartime. Academic opinion in the mid-20th century was generally reluctant to believe that such fine-quality Roman silver could possibly have been used in Roman Britain, and so there were many imaginative rumours and even doubts that this was a genuine British find at all. The numerous well documented discoveries of high-quality Roman material in recent decades, including the Hoxne Hoard, have set all such doubts to rest.