Another Coin Hoard Found in U.K.

21 more silver denarii found at a site in northern U.K. this month. Picture of the find below. Expanded story here.

This is in addition to some other recent much larger finds that I did posts on here and here.

This hoard (in MMT-speak: Savings) was again found buried in the ground in a shallow depth. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The archaeological context suggests that the hoard may well have been deliberately buried, rather than lost, and was probably the savings of an individual who was unable to recover his money. Twenty-one denarii in the late second century represented a substantial sum being roughly one tenth of a ranking auxiliary’s gross annual salary...

Based on the small number of coins (21) I have to think that this was an individuals personal savings, a bit over 1 month's pay. The small number of denarii would not be enough for a payroll of Roman soldiers at a wage of 1 denarius per day. So this person had put away a bit over one months salary.

I recently read some history that in the Roman Empire historians estimate that 1/3 of the population were in the Roman military/govt, 1/3 were 'free', and 1/3 were slaves. Some "advanced" society. You can look at these 21 denarii and perhaps assume that many other soldiers and free persons would have the same savings desires as the person who apparently lost possession of these 21 denarii.

Just as in the operations we witness by the Treasuries of our Western governments today, Roman Treasury/Finance officials in Britannia most certainly did not plan for the additional circulation of denarius to accomodate these savings desires; just spending enough denarii into circulation in Britannia to adequately provision the Roman military and government. So again like our situation today in the U.S., savings desires or "hoarding" led to a general shortage of denarii to be able to pay the Roman poll tax and/or to settle private transactions. Individuals who were not in position to obtain the denarius to pay the poll tax and/or provide for their means of subsistence would quickly be selling themselves into slavery or face conscription or prison labor camps, etc... depraved results. Though of course not exactly the same, one can see many parallels with the results in our current economies in the west.

Although we have made much social progress in 2,000 years, we in the west still have quite a long way to go to first reach a general accurate understanding of how our monetary systems operate, and then harness these systems to deliver the most righteous economy the west has ever experienced.