The Coin Hoards of the Roman Republic database: the history, the data and the potential (original) (raw)
Related papers
COIN HOARDS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE: A LONG- RANGE PERSPECTIVE. SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology 7.1. Group and Individual Tragedies in Roman Europe, 2020
This paper draws on data from two projects, the British Museum/Leicester Hoards project, which gathered records of 3,223 hoards of Iron Age and Roman coins from Britain, and the Oxford Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire project, which is gathering data on Roman coin hoards from across the Roman Empire, to make long-range comparisons of hoarding across different parts of the Empire by century. It adopts a broad-brush approach as the Oxford project is still adding data. The paper sets out the number of hoards recorded from each country from the reign of Augustus to the end of the fifth century and it shows that Luxembourg, followed by England and Israel have the highest number of coin hoards; it then considers the various factors governing the recovery and recording of hoards and the method of discovery of finds, before examining the chronological distribution of hoarding over the first to fifth centuries. Overall, the third century saw the highest proportion of coin hoards, followed by the fourth century, but there are very wide differences between the hoarding patterns of different countries. Hoards from beyond the frontier are also considered. A final section compares hoarding patterns with single finds of gold coins and suggests avenues for further research.
Mairat, J., Wilson, A. I., and Howgego, C. (eds) (2022). Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman World (Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy). Oxford., 2022
Coin Hoards and Hoarding in the Roman World presents fourteen chapters from an interdisciplinary group of Roman numismatists, historians, and archaeologists, discussing coin hoarding in the Roman Empire from c. 30 BC to AD 400. The book illustrates the range of research themes being addressed by those connected with the Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project, which is creating a database of all known Roman coin hoards from Augustus to AD 400. The volume also reflects the range of the Project's collaborations, with chapters on the use of hoard data to address methodological considerations or monetary history, and coverage of hoards from the west, centre, and east of the Roman Empire, essential to assess methodological issues and interpretations in as broad a context as possible. Chapters on methodology and metrology introduce statistical tools for analysing patterns of hoarding, explore the relationships between monetary reforms and hoarding practices, and address the question of value, emphasizing the need to consider the whole range of precious metal artefacts hoarded. Several chapters present regional studies, from Britain to Egypt, conveying the diversity of hoarding practices across the Empire, the differing methodological challenges they face, and the variety of topics they illuminate. The final group of chapters examines the evidence of hoarding for how long coins stayed in circulation, illustrating the importance of hoard evidence as a control on the interpretation of single coin finds, the continued circulation of Republican coins under the Empire, and the end of the small change economy in Northern Gaul.
Historical research through coin hoards
‘GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL TRAGEDIES IN ROMAN EUROPE. The evidence of hoards, epigraphic and literary sources, 2020
This discussion highlights the significance of often overlooked coin hoards in historical studies of the Roman Empire. It analyses the problems of incorporating numismatics as a means for studying ancient Roman history. The main part of the discussion focuses on the reliability level of hoard analysis and the possible pitfalls that lead to an insufficiently critical interpretation. In the example of two fourth-century Roman hoards from Slovenia, the Emona and the Čentur hoards, the author tries to show what such studies can bring, and with which challenges historians are faced with while studying coin hoards. She also explores how new approaches to studying coin hoards could help to integrate their studies into the study of classical history.
Early Roman coin hoards from Moesia Inferior and Thrace (from Augustus to Hadrian)
Coin Hoards in Southeastern Europe (1st - 6th century AD). Proceedings of the international symposium, Russe, June 2019., 2021
A total of 48 coin hoards from Republic of Bulgaria date to the Early Principate period are subject of this paper. This is by far the largest ever assembled body of coin deposits. They form a significant collection with a total of 6,341; of them only 4,771 ‘good’ coins. As with the Republicans, only hoards larger than 10 well-identified coins are selected for analyses and those which were reliably documented and/or published.
Late Roman Coin Hoards in the West: Trash or Treasure,
RBN, 2007
The late third century AD yielded many Roman coin hoards in the west, and especially the hoards closing after 274 AD stand out. Traditionally, these hoards have been linked to raids and invasions during this period: the ‘troubles hypothesis’. This hypothesis presents a problem: numerous hoards are found in Britain, an area not suffering from invasions at the time. The ‘troubles’ hypothesis fails to explain the accumulation of these hoards and their geographical distribution. An alternative explanation, the ‘monetary’ hypothesis, stating that the hoarded coins were abandoned because they had been demonetized or had otherwise lost their value is also tested and rejected. Coins similar to those hoarded circulated until the beginning of the fourth century AD. The present survey proposes that the hyperinflation of the period was the main cause of the high number of hoards. The huge number of low value coins in circulation meant that more individuals had to conceal more units of coins more often. Leaving aside all possible external causes for non-recovery (invasions, war, plague etc) a certain more or less fixed percentage of non-recovery due to unexpected natural death, forgetfulness etc should always be expected. The ‘inflation hypothesis’ proposed in this survey seems to be a more probable explanation of the post-274 AD peak of hoards than the ‘monetary’ and ‘troubles’ hypotheses discussed here.
Coin use in the Roman Republic
In: F. Haymann, W. Hollstein and M. Jehne (eds.), Neue Forschungen zur Münzprägung der Römischen Republik. Beiträge zum internationalen Kolloquium im Residenzschloss Dresden 19.-21. Juni 2014, Nomismata 8 (Bonn 2016) 347-372, 2016