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The Chessington Hoard - Children's Page
The Chessington Hoard - Children's Page
In 1998 six gold coins were found in Chessington. They were taken to Kingston Museum where experts confirmed that the coins were over 2000 years old. They came from a period called the Iron Age and were made over 100 years before Claudius's invasion of Britain. They were declared 'treasure' by a special Coroners' Court and were bought by Kingston Museum. They are known officially as the Chessington Hoard.
Picture of the Chessington Hoard
The coins are made of gold. On one side is a picture of an ancient Greek god called Apollo and on the other is a horse and a wheel, to represent a chariot. These pictures were copied from Greek coins made 300 years earlier.
The coins were made in Gaul, now Northern France and Belgium.
The Iron Age
The Iron Age is when the coins were made, sometime between 150 BC and 50 BC. We often call the Iron Age people Celts. They lived in round houses made of mud walls and straw roofs. Most Celts farmed for a living. You can see a model of an Iron Age village in Kingston Museum.
Blue men
The Celts were fierce warriors, who would charge into battle without many clothes on and with their bodies painted blue. They fought the Romans in Gaul. Some of the Celts traded with the people of Gaul. Perhaps this is how the coins arrived in Chessington. But we do not know for sure.