"Crackpot" theory is a little harsh. It was a thing for a while when history did one of its "everything is wrong, let's start from scratch" things a few years ago. It was always at the extreme, iconoclastic end of history/archaeology (and some archaeological theories have always been a little "out there") but it was a school of thought for a while. Never a good theory, but definitely a theory and it helped to reset the debate a little bit.

One small point about your excellent reply... As I understand it, we don't really know why the coin hoards were deposited. It might not be "hiding" as much as some kind of religious tribute, or even a more prosaic reason such as putting it somewhere for safe keeping and forgetting where.

And the unfortunate fact is that if there IS any archaeological evidence of violence or general disruption, it is probably not going to be found except by accident as it will either be under a major city and inaccessible, or in the middle of nowhere (like West Heslerton) and only found through a combination of luck and hard work.