Incredibly rare Roman emperor coin discovered during A14 works

The ‘radiate’ coin, which depicts the Roman emperor Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus wearing a radiate crown, is only the second of its kind to be discovered on an archaeological dig in England.

It was uncovered by the team of archaeologists working on Highways England’s £1.5 billion upgrade of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon.

The find is significant because the usurper Laelianus ruled a breakaway empire from Rome for a short spell in the Third Century, with evidence of his reign very rare. This coin did likely not arrive in Britain from the continent until after the ill-fated emperor’s demise.

Dr Steve Sherlock, archaeology lead for the A14 on behalf of Highways England, said: “Discoveries of this kind are incredibly rare. This is one of many coins that we’ve found on this exciting project, but to find one, where there are only two known from excavations in this country that portray this particular emperor, really is quite significant.

“I look forward to seeing how the analysis of this find along with numerous other Roman remains that we have found on this project help us better understand our past.”

The coin was discovered in the ditch of a small Roman farmstead unearthed on the project and the head on it has been identified by a leading coin expert as the ill-fated Emperor Laelianus who usurped the Gallic Empire in 269AD.

Highways England is working with experts from MOLA Headland Infrastructure on the A14. Julian Bowsher, numismatist at MOLA Headland Infrastructure, said: “Roman emperors were very keen to mint coins. Laelianus reigned for just two months which is barely enough time to do so.

“However, coins were struck in Mainz, Germania. The fact that one of these coins ever reached the shores of Britain demonstrates remarkable efficiency, and there’s every chance that Laelianus had been killed by the time this coin arrived in Cambridgeshire.”

An even older coin was found on the project recently, dating back in 57BC, meaning it was likely minted to help fund the resistance to Julius Caesar. The Gallic War Uniface coin was minted by the Ambiani tribe, who lived around what is now Amiens in the Somme area of modern day France, and exported their currency across the English Channel to the Celtic cousins to help resist the Romans.

The pioneering work of the project has now seen the A14 archaeology win the “Rescue Project of the Year” accolade in the 2019 Current Archaeology Awards.

Elsewhere, on the A1, work on another road upgrade recently uncovered new evidence pointing to Roman occupation in northern England earlier than previously thought.

Main construction to upgrade 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon reached the half way mark in November 2018. The project, which will open to traffic by December 2020, will add capacity, boost the local and national economy and cut up to 20 minutes off drivers’ journeys, highways England said.

Since work started more than eight million working hours have gone into the project. Nine new bridges have opened to traffic and construction is well underway on 25 more. The 750m long River Great Ouse Viaduct, with its 6,000-tonne steel structure, is now complete.

Some 80 per cent of the 10 million cubic metres of earth needed for the £1.5 billion project – equivalent to more than three Great Pyramids of Giza - has been moved, with the material used to build the foundations for the new road and structures.

It was during digging for these materials at one of the borrow pits that the team made the remarkable discovery of woolly mammoth tusks and the woolly rhino skull.