A plomo monetiforme from the Iberian settlement of Cerro Lucena (Enguera, Valencia) with a north-eastern Iberian legend, and the Italo-Baetican series (original) (raw)

2017, Journal of Archeological Numismatics

A plomo monetiforme from excavations at Cerro Lucena, above Śaitabi (modern Xàtiva) carries both a North-Iberian script (not so far attested on these issues), and one of the diagnostic images of the Italo-Baetican series: two strigils and an aryballos. We describe the archaeological context, and analyse the legends. We show that the Baetican assemblage includes not only Latin-language lead issues and the new plomo, but also bronze city coins from Salacia (with a legend in an as yet unclassified Southern non-Iberian script) and Albatha (with a Neo-Punic script). The new plomo may have been struck at the southern limit of the area using the North-Eastern Iberian script, perhaps near Carthago Nova, probably in the late second, or early first century BC. We provide a Provisional Catalogue of the Baetican assemblage. We conclude that it originates from a wider geographical area, and more cultures, than so far recognised. We argue that these issues have nothing to do with mining, and date them to c. 150/140–80/70 BC. The diagnostic types seem to refer to baths or palestras, and possibly the theatre. There are also many unrelated types, and it seems unlikely that the Italo-Baetican issues were mere tesserae. Many probably had a monetary function, in circumstances that are as yet unclear.

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