Papers by Theodor Isvoranu
Studii și Cercetări de Numismatică, N.S., IX‑XIV (XXI‑XXVI), București, 2023, p. 75‑97, 2023
Some remarks on the late Roman coin hoard discovered at Budăi (Orhei district, Republic of Moldov... more Some remarks on the late Roman coin hoard discovered at Budăi (Orhei district, Republic of Moldova)
The author presents some details regarding the siliqua coin hoard of vota-type discovered in 1951 in the village of Budăi, the only one of this type completely recovered, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.Over the course of several decades, several summary reports were made about this discovery in works of the chronicle or repertoire type, but a publication of the coins (126 pieces out of the total of 128 discovered) kept in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History in Chisinau could only be made in 2014, in the volume V.1 of the Corpus Nummorum Moldaviae series.Since the format of the publication did not allow a commentary to accompany the catalog and the illustration, some clarifications are made now, regarding the history and bibliography of the discovery, the structure of the monetary hoard, as well as the chronology and diffusion north of the Danube of the siliquae from the last part of the reign of Constantius II and from the first years of the house of Valentinian I.The 126 coins are "heavy" siliquae equivalent to the Constantinian argentei, issued prior to Constantius II's reform of AD 358. They were struck at Sirmium (28), Constantinople (90) and Antioch (8).Except of a single coin struck before AD 353 in Constantinople, all the others, of the vota tricennalia type, date from the interval 353-358.Among the coins from Constantinople, representing over 70% of the total, the best documented is the issue with a dot in exergue (63 siliquae minted in all of the officinae).From Sirmium, a specimen of a possible unpublished issue, marked SIRMѠ, should be noted, unless it is another way of rendering the mark of the SIRMŮ series, dated by J.P.C. Kent in the years 351-355; from Antioch, a rare issue attested by a piece from the 4th officina (ANTΔ), for which Kent only knew specimens from the Θ workshop.The imitative piece, previously published, seems to be of local origin, as indicated by analogies from the Republic of Moldova, eastern Romania and western Ukraine.The known integral composition of the hoard from Budăi constitutes it as a chronological benchmark for other siliquae hoards between the Prut and Dniester, in a more or less fragmentary state, discovered at: Lărguța, Chișinău, Taraclia, Capaclia, Braniște and an unlocated point in Orhei district (Republic of Moldova), respectively Holms'ke, Odesa region (Ukraine), the latter also containing an imitation.According to the known issues, the listed hoards do not seem to end later than the decade 355-365/366, the hiding of the coins in the ground may be related to the context of the events of the early years of the Valentinian dynasty.
MATERIALE ȘI CERCETĂRI ARHEOLOGICE (n.s.) , 2022
The authors present a coin hoard consisting of 62 Roman Republican denarii and a good style imita... more The authors present a coin hoard consisting of 62 Roman Republican denarii and a good style imitation of a denarius, which was recently discovered in the village of Pârscov, Buzău County, in the place called Gorgane-Observator. The place of discovery is located in the neighbourhoods of the Geto-Dacian sites from Târcov-Piatra cu Lilieci, Cârlomănești and Pietroasele-Gruiu Dării. The appearance of the coins, in different stages of wear and with numerous incised control-marks, probably due to the activity of nummularii, indicates a "circulation coin hoard" that reached the north of the Danube in a pre-constituted form. The denarii fall chronologically between 179-170 and 19 BC, the imitation having as prototype the denarius of P. Clodius from 42 BC. The core of the hoard consists of three compact groups totalling 51 denarii, each in almost uninterrupted chronological succession, attesting to the intervals 118-105, 91-68 and 58-40 BC. The best documented is the period of Caesar's ascension, wars and dictatorship, until after the establishment of the 2nd triumvirate, the coins of the 50-41 decade representing over 25% of the total. The deposit ends with Octavian issues, the last two denarii bearing the title CAESAR AVGVSTVS. It is the first hoard from the time of Augustus discovered on the territory of Buzău County, having as main analogies in terms of chronology and structure the hoards from Valea (Strâmba), Dâmbovița County and Sfântu Gheorghe, Covasna counties. The circumstances of the concealment of the coin hoard are integrated into the context generated by a series of events related by written sources, which took place between about 17/16 BC-10/12 AD, which culminated in the relocation of an entire Getic population from north of the Danube, archaeologically confirmed by the cessation of habitation in the great davae and settlements of Wallachia.
Pontica LV Supplementum IX Studia Numismatica Et Archaeologica In Honorem Gabriel Gheorghe Custurea Oblata, 2022
The author presents a small coin hoard found near the city of Orhei,
Republic of Moldova, contai... more The author presents a small coin hoard found near the city of Orhei,
Republic of Moldova, containing provincial issues from the Marcus Aurelius - Philippus
period, of some mints from Thrace and Macedonia. Some of them are attested for the first
time in this area outside the borders of the Roman Empire, being little known in the whole
region of the Lower Danube, such as that the one of Nicopolis ad Mestum. Most likely, it
is a "purse hoard", a small amount for current expenses, set up somewhere in the South
Balkans and brought north of the limes through the movement of people, not by trade.
HIDDEN LANDSCAPES The Lost Roads, Borders and Battlefields of the South-Eastern Carpathians, 2022
The authors present a small hoard recently discovered at Cândești, Buzău County. It consists of
3... more The authors present a small hoard recently discovered at Cândești, Buzău County. It consists of
3 silver jewellery (a bracelet, a fibula and a fragment of a spiral ring) and 19 Roman Republican denarii dating
between the first half of the 2nd Century BC and the Second Triumvirate. The main analogues for silver jewellery
associated with coins are the hoards from Remetea Mare and Cerbăl, respectively (only for jewellry) the hoard of
Săliștea, all three ones roughly dating between the second half of the 1st Century BC and the first quarter of the
1st Century AD. Taking into account the structure of the monetary batch as well as the analogies of jewellery, it
is plausible that the hoard from Cândești dates back to the Augustan period, i.e., to the last quarter of the 1st
century BC - first decade of the 1st century AD.
1. Prezența accesoriilor de port și pieselor de podoabă din componența tezaurului îl aseamănă cu ... more 1. Prezența accesoriilor de port și pieselor de podoabă din componența tezaurului îl aseamănă cu tezaurele secolelor IV-V legate de populațiile germanice.
2. Această „componentă feminină” a tezaurului ne determină să considerăm depunerea ca având potențial caracter sacru (Fig. 8).
3. Deși tezaurul a fost doar parțial recuperat, fără să cunoaștem componența originală a depunerii, pare a avea un inventar mult mai puțin bogat în comparație cu tezaurele din secolul al V-lea.
4. Pe baza analizei cronologice efectuate în precedentul studiu (n. 18), am ajuns la concluzia că tezaurul a fost în mod eronat datat, în special pe baza cronologiei fibulei, deși există piese din tezaur ce au putut fi utilizate timp îndelungat.
Putem conchide că tezaurul ar putea constitui o depunere rituală de la sfârșitul secolului al IV-lea - începutul secolului al V-lea, fără nicio legătură cu atacul hunilor la Nistru în 376 (de menționat că între Valea-Strâmbă și Nistru, fără să punem la socoteală Carpații Orientali, Siretul și Prutul, sunt 311 km în linie dreaptă), prin urmare nici cu dispariția unui concept abstract, numit cultura arheologică Sântana de Mureș-Černjachov.
HIDDEN LANDSCAPES The Lost Roads, Borders and Battlefields of the South-Eastern Carpathians, 2022
The authors present a hoard of 249 drachmas from Dyrrhachium recently discovered in Ormeniș,
Braș... more The authors present a hoard of 249 drachmas from Dyrrhachium recently discovered in Ormeniș,
Brașov county, on a sloping plateau, at the top of a wooded hill, in the area of the Olt River gorge in the Perșani
mountains. The coins were scattered over about 9 sqm, probably following a landslide, at a depth of 30-40 cm.
The finding place is located approximately 6 km southeast of the Dacian settlement and fortification on the Tipia
Ormenișului hill, where monetary discoveries were made, including such a drachma. Also nearby, a hoard of
Roman denarii was discovered. Of the total coins of the Ormeniș hoard, 243 are drachmas that could be attributed
to magistrates from groups IV and V of issues of Dyrrhachium, according to N. Conovici's chronology, dated
between 153-98 B.C., respectively 97-85 B.C. The other coins are four drachma imitations from Dyrrhachium,
a Dyrrhachium-Apollonia hybrid imitation, and an unspecified piece. Most of the coins have been affected
by burning and are partially covered by a brown-colored deposit. The burning caused flattening, sometimes
fracturing of the flan, the erasure of some iconographic elements, a few copies retaining imprinted traces of
incandescent objects with which they had contact. The drachmas of group IV represent only 5.35% of the 243
original issues, but attest to six eponymous magistrates, in whose mandate eight moneyers were active. The oldest
coin is from the eponymous Aristenos IV and the moneyer Kerdon (119 BC), the best represented is the
eponymous Damenos, in association with five moneyers. The coins of group V hold the share (94.65%). 12 of the
13 known eponyms and only four moneyers are attested. The best documented are Meniskos and Xenon, by
87.25% of coins. The most drachmas bear the names of the eponyms Dionysios (67 ex.) and Lykiskos (34 ex.),
indicating a constitution of the monetary lot around the years 89-88 BC. The hoard ends with the drachmas of
the eponymous Aristenos VI, minted by the moneyers Philon and Silanos (86 BC). Four of the imitations
reproduce coins of the moneyers Xenon and Meniskos, the fifth one being a combination of a Dyrrhachian obverse
from the moneyer Xenon and a reverse from the eponymous Agenos of Apollonia. The average weight of the coins
is lower than that of other coin hoards from Dacia, the quantitative "peaks" being of 2.55 g and 2.75 g. The coins
were struck carelessly, off-center, on smaller flans than the dies, showing the concern for the greatest possible
production in a short time, specific to the coinage in the crisis periods. The Ormeniș hoard arrived in eastern
Transylvania in the context of the great influx of silver coins from the years 75-70/65 in the north-Danube regions,
influenced by the Roman military campaigns in Balkans and Pontus, after the mints of Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia had ceased their production of drachmas. Large amounts of drachmas and other coins issued under
Roman authority entered Dacia, in large lots pre-established in the area of origin, which were hoarded and
sometimes redistributed. A provenance as a consequence of the looting raids led by Burebista in the Illyrian area
– reported by Strabo – is not excluded. The hoard followed the diffusion path indicated by the discoveries map,
from western Transylvania to the area of Eastern Carpathians, along the valleys of the main rivers. It is likely that
it was lost, perhaps in a fire, before the coins were distributed and used.
Studia numismatica et archaeologica. In honorem magistri Virgilii Mihailescu-Bîrliba oblata, eds. Lucian Munteanu, Ciprian-Dorin Nicola, Gabriel M. Talmațchi, București – Piatra Neamț, 2018
A hoard comprising eleven silver coins was accidentally found during agricultural works, in the v... more A hoard comprising eleven silver coins was accidentally found during agricultural works, in the village of Băbeni, Buzău county, on the right bank of the Râmnic River. The pieces have appeared at a small depth, scattered over an area of about 50-100 m2. It is possible to be only a fragment of a larger hoard excavated in the past, the content of which has only been partially recovered. The discovery took place about 1.5 km from an impressive Getic fortress and about 0.8 km from another settlement of the same culture, both dated in the 4th-3rd centuries BC.
The coins are imitations of Macedonian type, having as initial pattern the tetradrachms of Philip II issued after 348 BC, with the representation of the Olympic rider on the reverse. K. Pink classified them as part of the eastern Celtic coinage and named them of Kreuzelreiter type because of the cruciform symbol on the reverse.
There are two categories of such imitations, with similar iconography, but with different chronology. The coins in the hoard of Băbeni have a weight average of 11,37 g, about 23-25 mm, the flan slightly scyphate and were made of good silver. They belong to the first category, represented by large and well-made coins, stylistically inspired by the earliest monetary types of imitation in northern and western Dacia, which are well documented in the big hoards discovered at Tulghieş (Maramureş county), Şilindia (Arad county) and in the area of Banat. These large Kreuzelreiter coins have been issued most likely in course of the last quarter to the end of the 3rd Century BC. Besides the hoard of Băbeni, they are also known from the hoards of Sighetu Marmaţiei (Maramureş county) - at least four such coins in combination with imitations of other types, Vânători (Vrancea county) - 91 ex. and in some isolated finds, mainly from the area of the counties Buzău and Vrancea and the neighborhood.
The second category is best illustrated by the hoard discovered in Dumbrăveni (Vrancea county), composed of 263 small coins (average weight of 4.23 g) of more “barbarized” style, dating back to the middle or the second half of the 2nd Century BC. Based on this discovery, the name “Dumbrăveni”, which had become eponymous, had been extended to all coins with Kreuzelreiter iconography, the two mentioned categories being attributed to the same imitative type, as representing different nominal values.
This article attempts to demonstrate that the Kreuzelreiter large coins, also documented in the hoard of Băbeni, were struck at least half a century earlier, having probably other artisans, eventually also other users than the coins of the second category represented by the hoard of Dumbrăveni.
Cultură și Civilizație la Dunărea de Jos, 2008
Rezumat: Este prezentată o emisiune monetară rară, cu prezumtivă provenienţă dobrogeană, bătută î... more Rezumat: Este prezentată o emisiune monetară rară, cu prezumtivă provenienţă dobrogeană, bătută într-un oraş grecesc de pe coasta de vest a Asiei Mici, în timpul domniei lui Marcus Aurelius. Legenda reversului redă la genitiv numele oraşului Elaea şi al strategului Pellonios, iar iconografia se constituie într-o interesantă combinaţie de efigii şi simboluri ale unor zeităţi diferite: Asklepios cu atributele sale sacre, Demetra reprezentată de capsula de mac şi spicele de grâu şi Athena simbolizată de măslin. Divinităţile feminine au dominat pantheonul local din perioada autonomiei (sec. V-III a.Chr.), cultul Athenei fiind legat de legenda, menţionată de Strabon, a întemeierii cetăţii de către atenienii participanţi la războiul Troiei. Asklepios a devenit protector al oraşului în epoca regatului Attalizilor, în timpul căruia Elaea a constituit principala bază navală a Pergamului.
What if: Administration and Politics in the Lands of Romania (eds Adina Boroneanţ, Anca Diana Popescu), Academia Română - Centrul de Studii Transilvane Cluj-Napoca, 2015
Materiale și Cercetări Arheologice, S.N., 2018
COINS AND „ARROWHEADS” RECENTLY DISCOVERED AT ARGAMUM AND ENISALA
The numismatic material prese... more COINS AND „ARROWHEADS” RECENTLY DISCOVERED AT ARGAMUM AND ENISALA
The numismatic material presented below comes from the archaeological researches carried out within the project ANR-Pont Euxin. Orgamè, nécropole et territoire, coordinated by Alexandre Baralis (Musée du Louvre) and Vasilica Lungu (ISSEE). Most of the 16 monetary pieces are dated during the 6th-3rd centuries BC and in the late Roman Empire, as follows: five „arrowheads”, an early Istrian coin of Apollo type, an undetermined small Greek coin and nine Roman nummi of the 4th Century AD (including an imitation), dating from Constantine I to Valens. Despite the small number, the coins in the catalogue enrich the information known so far, including two more rarely encountered items. They confirm a high level of commercial activities at Orgame / Argamum and its surroundings in the 6th-5th century BC, but also during the era of Dominate, attested by at least three large „arrowheads” hoards, also by an important coin hoard and many isolated pieces of the 4th century AD.
Materiale și Cercetări Arheologice, S.N., 2018
COIN FINDS AT HISTRIA, THE „SOUTH SECTOR” (2013-2017)
During the 2013-2017 systematic research ta... more COIN FINDS AT HISTRIA, THE „SOUTH SECTOR” (2013-2017)
During the 2013-2017 systematic research taking place in the „South Sector” of the archaeological resort Histria, 85 coins were collected, out of which 68 exemplars (80%) were identified. The excavations have been focused on the north-west boundary of the sector, corresponding to the western part of the enclosure and the compartments of an important edifice identified as early as 2011-2012. The size of the coin batch indicates a certain dynamics of monetary presence in an area probably intensely inhabited in the Roman Histria between the second half of the 2nd Century AD and the end of the Tetrarchy. The restriction of the fortified enclosure and implicitly of the urban area during the late Roman Empire, abandoned the area of the great edifice to the extra muros zone, to be overlapped by two levels of necropolis. The 68 coins are chronologically distributed as follows: six coins from the age before the Roman rule, 40 coins from the period of Principate (seven denars, 18 antoninians, one sestertius, one dupondius, 13 provincial coins), 16 Late Roman coins and six Byzantine coins from the 6th Century AD. Along with monetary issues already documented in the finds at Histria, there are also rarities such as: a coin from the late period of the city's autonomy, bearing an uncommon countermark (No. 6); Istrian coins by Antoninus Pius and Caracalla, of less known types (No. 8, 13) respectively a pseudo-autonomous coin with the ICTPI legend engraved in an unusual way (No. 14); a piece of 4 Assaria of Nicopolis ad Istrum, with a type of reverse not yet documented for the governance of Lower Moesia by L. Aurelius Gallus, 202-205 AD (no.12); the single one antoninianus from Gordian III so far registered at Histria (No. 27); an antoninianus issued by Vabalathus (No 38). The structure of the batch generally confirms the previous remarks – occasioned by the publication of the first batch of coins in 2014 – about the monetary presence in the southern area of the studied urban center. Probably most of the coins appeared in a secondary position, with no stratigraphic significance. Exceptions are made by some pieces found in the debris of the walls and on the treading level of the studied building, at least 16 of which could constitute chronological points of reference. The numismatic material indicates a hypothetical building of the great edifice, probably of public utility, in the first part of the 3rd Century AD. After a plausible destruction by fire during the "Scythian War", it was probably partially rebuilt in the days of Aurelian or Probus, and functioned until the beginning of the second decade of the 4th century AD, when it was finally devastated, apparently in the course of another fire. The coins that were sporadically penetrated later do not reflect the habitation of the area, being related rather to funerary systematizations in the second half of the 4th Century AD and later. For a general overview, the full list of the coin finds at Histria- the „South Sector” is attached.
Studii și Cercetări de Numismatică, S.N., 2018
THE COIN HOARD FOUND AT VADUL LUI ISAC (THE 4TH CENTURY A.D.)
The authors present a coin hoa... more THE COIN HOARD FOUND AT VADUL LUI ISAC (THE 4TH CENTURY A.D.)
The authors present a coin hoard of base metal, kept in the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldavia (Kishinev). The 42 coins have been found at Vadul lui Isac, Cahul district (former Vulcăneşti), on the lower Prut valley, in the southern Republic of Moldova. About a decade ago they were presented, in a Symposium of Numismatics, as an uncertain hoard, considering its strange structure (a mixture of early and late Roman imperial coins) and the sketchy information on the circumstances of the recovery. After this finding was revalued, it is no doubt that the coins constitute a hoard, with a homogenous structure and a similar preservation of the pieces.
The hoard comprises two equal groups (21 pieces each), as follows: an earlier one from the late Principate and a compact bunch of nummi from the 4th Century. The earliest ones are two provincial coins from Thrace and Bithynia, respectively a subaerate denarius of Caracalla. They are succeeded by 18 billon antoninianii issued by six emperors: Valerian I, Gallienus (6 ex., after A.D. 260), Claudius Gothicus (3 ex.), Aurelianus (5 ex.), Probus, Maximianus Herculeus (2 ex.). A rare coin from Tripolis of Syria, unprecedented in the Bessarabian area, is noteworthy. The Late Roman group comprises nummii from AD 313-315 to the conjointed reign of Valentinian and Valens, with a better representation of the periods 318-324 (6 ex. = 28.57%) and 364-378 (5 ex. = 23.80%).
The principal analogies are the two such hoards until now discovered in the southern Republic of Moldavia at Goteşti, Cantemir district (about 200 ex.; inedited) and passim (59 ex.; recently published in SCN, n.s., 4, 2013).
We suppose that the coins of Vadul lui Isac hoard could come in the area of finding from Scythia Minor. As statistics on the represented mints show, at least the late Roman group was constituted in the western or perhaps central-balcanic part of the Empire. Most probably the two groups of coins of the hoard came from the Empire in “already constituted” form, maybe not simultaneously, in this case being later associated in a single hoard. At least five coin hoards from Dobroudja and many others north of the Danube (mainly in Banat) have affined structures.
In May 1939 one of the most important finds attributed to the Sântana de Mureș-Cerneahov culture ... more In May 1939 one of the most important finds attributed to the Sântana de Mureș-Cerneahov culture was discovered in Valea-Strâmbă and since became a symbol for the last phase of the respective archaeological culture. The hoard is found on the western side of the ‘Kápolnaoldal’ hill at an inclination of 23 degrees, and an altitude of 857–875 m above sea level, therefore we consider that the place chosen for the hiding of the hoard does not indicate a location designated for human habitation,
but rather a different set of reasons. The preservation of the hoard is only partial, considering that its exact composition is unknown the chronological framework of the individual pieces should not be extrapolated to the hoard itself which is thus unfit to sustain any kind of historical argument and hypothesis. Furthermore, we observed that the most important hoards from the 4–5th centuries, also including
the treasure from Valea-Strâmbă, have a common feature. Taking into consideration the hoards with precise place of discovery it becomes evident that in virtually all cases the locations chosen for concealment are conspicuous from a topographic point of view, standing out of their environment. The seven cases mentioned in the article indicate that concerning the 4th and 5th century hoards we are not simply
dealing with a phenomenon of tezaurization, but a cultural manifestation of the late antique power elites spread throughout a considerable geographical area.
During the systematic archaeological investigations taking place in the southern side of Histria ... more During the systematic archaeological investigations taking place in the southern side of Histria in 2011-2012, several dozens of ancient coins were discovered in the main trenches located between the „Southern Sector” and the „Basilica extra muros Sector”. Among the 37 identified ones, six were Greek coins issued before the Roman rule at Histria, 27 were Greek and Roman coins from the age of the Principate, three coins were dated to the Late Roman Empire and a single one to the Early Byzantine period. Most coins were found among the remains of a large building, constructed perhaps at the beginning of the 3rd century AD, and which was affected by the events of the "Scythian war", being definitively destroyed by fire during the first two decades of the 4th century AD, as indicated by the monetary pieces captured under its ruins, the latest one from the end of the Tetrarchy. Several provincial and imperial coins bear traces of burning, melted metal depositions, sometimes portions of their surface being heavily melted. From another context comes the most recent coin, dating to Justinian I, found in the zone of the cobblestone platforms from the southern extremity of the site, presumably related to the harbor development during the 6th century AD.
Studii și Cercetări de Numismatică, S.N., 2010
COINS FOUND IN THE DISTRICT “VIILE NOI” OF CONSTANȚA
The author presents 203 ancient and byza... more COINS FOUND IN THE DISTRICT “VIILE NOI” OF CONSTANȚA
The author presents 203 ancient and byzantine coins, all of base metal, discovered in the district “Viile Noi” of Constanţa, during the years 1927-1929. They arrived into the private collection P. Popovăţ, being later purchased by the Romanian Numismatic Society. As in other known cases, although the coins have been offered for purchase as isolated findings, the structure of the batch shows that they could resulted from more places of the mentioned area and the current distribution is likely due to a selection. Hypothetically, numerous good preserved Roman coins and certain homogenous groups of pieces (as the latest antoninianii or some nummii) appear to come from graves, quite plausible given that in the “Viile Noi” area two Roman necropolis have been reported.
This would explain why many coins are base metal, if included in this category exemplaries of billon, silver plated billon or a bronze cast imitation about imperial denarii. But in case of the (well represented) isolated ones, which are usually found in association with some silver pieces, the exclusiveness of the bronze undoubtedly reveals a certain selection in the private collection.
The batch is really varied, comprising many issues extremely rare in the currency of Tomis and Dobrudja, and some pieces even inedited. The period represented is very wide, ranging from the 5th Century B.C. to the 13th Century A.D. The coins are distributed as follows: 18 Greek coins (six “autonomous” and 12 provincial issues), 171 Roman coins (27 ex. of the 1st-3rd centuries A.D. and 144 ex. from the period 294-423/5 A.D.) and 14 Byzantine coins (seven pieces dated in the 6th Century A.D, five late folles from the 11th Century A.D. and two billon “Latin imitations” issued after 1204).
The most of the Greek issues come from the Moesia Inferior zone, from where the provincial ones of 4 assaria are prevailing, but are also described some rare coins of Punic Sicily, Attica, Mysia, Bithynia and Egypt. A special mention concerns an unprecedented variant of an “autonomous” coin of Tomis (nr. 4). For the 1st-3rd centuries the most numerous imperial bronze denomination is the as; the antoninianii of the Claudius Gothicus-Probus period come in the majority from Rome, Siscia and Cyzicus. The late Roman currency is well represented mainly for the first half of the 4th Century A.D., in accordance with the general statistics for Tomis, which gives a considerable additional information. As rarities for Dobrudja we mention the issues of Carthage and Lugdunum (nr. 51, 138), a rare type of Diocletianus (nr. 46), a coin of Treveri with corrupt legend (nr. 62), a piece of ½ follis from Rome (nr. 55), a rare posthumous nummus of Constantius I (nr. 67) and another one of Constantine, with a unusual location of the workshop mark (nr. 132), respectively a maiorina of Decentius (nr. 149). The other late Roman issues (after 354 A.D.) and the Byzantine ones do not reflect the natural structure of the Dobrudjan currency, being clearly selected, but they are significantly enriching the previous statistics.
The authors present the results of XRF-analyses made on 34 silver coins from the hoard found at t... more The authors present the results of XRF-analyses made on 34 silver coins from the hoard found at the Geto-Dacian settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău County, Romania. These represent a later version of the last stage of the 'Vârteju-Bucureşti' type, belonging to the last stage of the imitative coinage based on Macedonian prototypes. It is the first attestation of a hoard in which struck and cast coins are associated. The X-ray fluorescence analysis also detected two different structural groups of coins. The struck ones are composed of a quaternary alloy (Ag+Cu+Sn+Pb) with minor traces of other elements, whereas the cast pieces have a strange composition: a binary alloy comprising only Ag and Cu.
THE GETO-DACIAN COIN HOARD FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF CÂRLOMĂNEŞTI
The authors present a Geto-Dac... more THE GETO-DACIAN COIN HOARD FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF CÂRLOMĂNEŞTI
The authors present a Geto-Dacian coin hoard of 124 pieces found in situ during the archaeological excavations from 1973-1974 in the southeastern side of the settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău county (2nd –1st centuries BC). The coins had been deposited in a small pit at 60-65cms depth, maybe into a perishable cover, which has left no trace. Partially they were dispersed around the pit, perhaps because of the burrows made by animals. Another 12 isolated pieces were discovered in the last habitation level of this dava as autonomous centre of power. The coins of the hoard belong to the large group of so-called “late imitations of Philip II type”, characterized by a stylization of the iconographic elements and a gradual debasement of the metal and named mit Sattelkopfpferd by K. Pink, who attributed them to the Dacian communities. Pink dated these issues in the 1st century BC and divided them in a “good style” one and another four decline stages, corresponding with so-named by C. Preda the “Adâncata-Mânăstirea”, “Vârteju-Bucureşti” and “Inoteşti-Răcoasa” monetary types.
From the iconographic aspect the coins from the Cârlomăneşti hoard belong to the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type (equivalent to the “second degradation stage” of the Sattelkopfpferd type of Pink), rendering, very abstractly, a bearded human effigy on the obverse and a horseman on the reverse. However, they present own certain features, even beside the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” standard. An important one is the metrological aspect, which refers about the differences between these coins and the majority of the common “Vârteju-Bucureşti” issues. Usually, these ones weigh about 7-8 g; but the Cârlomăneşti pieces are visible lighter: 4 to 6 g. The diameter is also different. From the chronological point of view, this category of “light” imitations, well represented in the Cârlomăneşti hoard, seems to be later than the common one. The coins of the hoard are themselves dividing into two main categories of issues: 55 pieces were struck, but an important amount of coins (69 pieces) has been made by casting. Although all of them have a concave-convex form and, at first sight, seem to be made from an alloy based on silver and copper. Their variable aspect results from the technical process that has been used. The struck coins have a smaller weight (about 4-5 g) and their surfaces are penetrated by many oxide traces, whereas the flan area of the cast pieces has a unitary appearance of the silver stratum and the weight goes beyond 5 g. The entire cast pieces have been identically reproduced according to three struck prototypes, suitable to so-called A, B and C series from the catalogue. Their flans have air bubble traces and some rests of metal disposed in the same place on the each cast piece, like the struck prototype. As a relation between the two different groups of coins from the Cârlomăneşti hoard that we observed, two struck coins were made with the same dies as the coin used as a pattern for a few cast pieces.
It should be mentioned here that the all 12 isolated coins were struck (eight of “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type and another four imitations of “Inoteşti-Răcoasa”, “Alexander-Philipp III”, Dyrrhachium and Thasos types).
As part of the Archaeomet research project, 33 coins of the hoard and a single isolate one have been x-ray fluorescence (XRF) method analysed at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering “Horia Hulubei” by prof. V. Cojocaru. The investigations have also detected two structural groups, confirming the numismatist’s observations. 20 analysed struck coins are constituted mainly by four elements (in significant quantity) – silver, copper, tin and lead – while the fourteen cast coins are made of a binary alloy of silver and copper. Also, the cast coins are made of an inhomogeneous alloy of silver and copper, with different concentrations of the elements in various points.
It is difficult to prove if the coins belong to the same mint or whether that mint was situated inside of the Cârlomăneşti settlement. Because no cast coin was found out of the hoard, it is presumably that these ones had not been used, but we can agree that they could be made here; that’s not the case of the struck pieces. The archaeological researches show a sudden end of that settlement, perhaps towards the middle of the 1st century BC or later. The hoard seems to be buried in haste, the two categories being probably in this way associated.
For this variant of the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type a few analogies are known, only for the cast pieces and their prototypes. Several Cârlomăneşti coins have been struck with the same dies as other ones from the hoards of Curtea de Argeş (Argeş County) and Râfov (Prahova County). These two hoards however comprise only struck pieces, not cast. Some isolated findings are too known.
As the numismatists generally agreed, the “Vârteju” coins, widespread mainly in the plain zones of Oltenia and Walachia, ceased in the first half of the 1st century BC. Although their lighter correspondents continue the iconographic line, they have not been found in the same area, but, as it seem, in the Sub-Carpathian. That shows at least a chronological difference between them. We can presume that the late variant of the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type, now well-known from the hoard of Cârlomăneşti, continued till about the middle of the 1st century B.C.
This paper also includes some considerations about the structure of the 2nd-1st B.C. centuries mixed coin hoards in the Lower-Danubian area and about the relative chronology of the later imitative Geto-Dacian coins.
ARCHAEOLOGY: MAKING OF AND PRACTICE. STUDIES IN HONOUR OF MIRCEA BABEȘ AT HIS 70th ANNIVERSARY , 2011
COINS OF THE CLASSICAL DACIAN PERIOD FOUND IN THE DAVA OF CÂRLOMĂNEȘTI
This paper presents som... more COINS OF THE CLASSICAL DACIAN PERIOD FOUND IN THE DAVA OF CÂRLOMĂNEȘTI
This paper presents some recent findings from the archaeological excavations in the dava-settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău county. As isolated pieces, two coins – imitations of Macedonian prototype, belonging to so-called “Vârteju-Bucureşti” (“mit Sattelkopfpferd”) and “Alexander the Great-Philip Arrhidaeus” types –, both dated in the 2nd-1st centuries B.C., were found nearly of a round unprinted piece of metal, perhaps a monetary blank. For this one, the XRF-analysis detected a composition of Cu 59,5%, Ag 31,3%, Sn 7,4%, Pb 0,7%, Au 0,25%. All of them came out from the last habitation level of the dava. Another “Vârteju” coin, till now considered lost, complements the recent published hoard of 124 such coins and proved to be the earliest one of these. Based on the appearance of the just mentioned “Vârteju” isolated coin struck with the same dies as other one found in the dava of Popeşti (Giurgiu county, on the lower valley of Argeş river), some considerations about the similar numismatic inventory from the two Dacian settlements, indicating a contemporary period of living, are also made.
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Papers by Theodor Isvoranu
The author presents some details regarding the siliqua coin hoard of vota-type discovered in 1951 in the village of Budăi, the only one of this type completely recovered, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.Over the course of several decades, several summary reports were made about this discovery in works of the chronicle or repertoire type, but a publication of the coins (126 pieces out of the total of 128 discovered) kept in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History in Chisinau could only be made in 2014, in the volume V.1 of the Corpus Nummorum Moldaviae series.Since the format of the publication did not allow a commentary to accompany the catalog and the illustration, some clarifications are made now, regarding the history and bibliography of the discovery, the structure of the monetary hoard, as well as the chronology and diffusion north of the Danube of the siliquae from the last part of the reign of Constantius II and from the first years of the house of Valentinian I.The 126 coins are "heavy" siliquae equivalent to the Constantinian argentei, issued prior to Constantius II's reform of AD 358. They were struck at Sirmium (28), Constantinople (90) and Antioch (8).Except of a single coin struck before AD 353 in Constantinople, all the others, of the vota tricennalia type, date from the interval 353-358.Among the coins from Constantinople, representing over 70% of the total, the best documented is the issue with a dot in exergue (63 siliquae minted in all of the officinae).From Sirmium, a specimen of a possible unpublished issue, marked SIRMѠ, should be noted, unless it is another way of rendering the mark of the SIRMŮ series, dated by J.P.C. Kent in the years 351-355; from Antioch, a rare issue attested by a piece from the 4th officina (ANTΔ), for which Kent only knew specimens from the Θ workshop.The imitative piece, previously published, seems to be of local origin, as indicated by analogies from the Republic of Moldova, eastern Romania and western Ukraine.The known integral composition of the hoard from Budăi constitutes it as a chronological benchmark for other siliquae hoards between the Prut and Dniester, in a more or less fragmentary state, discovered at: Lărguța, Chișinău, Taraclia, Capaclia, Braniște and an unlocated point in Orhei district (Republic of Moldova), respectively Holms'ke, Odesa region (Ukraine), the latter also containing an imitation.According to the known issues, the listed hoards do not seem to end later than the decade 355-365/366, the hiding of the coins in the ground may be related to the context of the events of the early years of the Valentinian dynasty.
Republic of Moldova, containing provincial issues from the Marcus Aurelius - Philippus
period, of some mints from Thrace and Macedonia. Some of them are attested for the first
time in this area outside the borders of the Roman Empire, being little known in the whole
region of the Lower Danube, such as that the one of Nicopolis ad Mestum. Most likely, it
is a "purse hoard", a small amount for current expenses, set up somewhere in the South
Balkans and brought north of the limes through the movement of people, not by trade.
3 silver jewellery (a bracelet, a fibula and a fragment of a spiral ring) and 19 Roman Republican denarii dating
between the first half of the 2nd Century BC and the Second Triumvirate. The main analogues for silver jewellery
associated with coins are the hoards from Remetea Mare and Cerbăl, respectively (only for jewellry) the hoard of
Săliștea, all three ones roughly dating between the second half of the 1st Century BC and the first quarter of the
1st Century AD. Taking into account the structure of the monetary batch as well as the analogies of jewellery, it
is plausible that the hoard from Cândești dates back to the Augustan period, i.e., to the last quarter of the 1st
century BC - first decade of the 1st century AD.
2. Această „componentă feminină” a tezaurului ne determină să considerăm depunerea ca având potențial caracter sacru (Fig. 8).
3. Deși tezaurul a fost doar parțial recuperat, fără să cunoaștem componența originală a depunerii, pare a avea un inventar mult mai puțin bogat în comparație cu tezaurele din secolul al V-lea.
4. Pe baza analizei cronologice efectuate în precedentul studiu (n. 18), am ajuns la concluzia că tezaurul a fost în mod eronat datat, în special pe baza cronologiei fibulei, deși există piese din tezaur ce au putut fi utilizate timp îndelungat.
Putem conchide că tezaurul ar putea constitui o depunere rituală de la sfârșitul secolului al IV-lea - începutul secolului al V-lea, fără nicio legătură cu atacul hunilor la Nistru în 376 (de menționat că între Valea-Strâmbă și Nistru, fără să punem la socoteală Carpații Orientali, Siretul și Prutul, sunt 311 km în linie dreaptă), prin urmare nici cu dispariția unui concept abstract, numit cultura arheologică Sântana de Mureș-Černjachov.
Brașov county, on a sloping plateau, at the top of a wooded hill, in the area of the Olt River gorge in the Perșani
mountains. The coins were scattered over about 9 sqm, probably following a landslide, at a depth of 30-40 cm.
The finding place is located approximately 6 km southeast of the Dacian settlement and fortification on the Tipia
Ormenișului hill, where monetary discoveries were made, including such a drachma. Also nearby, a hoard of
Roman denarii was discovered. Of the total coins of the Ormeniș hoard, 243 are drachmas that could be attributed
to magistrates from groups IV and V of issues of Dyrrhachium, according to N. Conovici's chronology, dated
between 153-98 B.C., respectively 97-85 B.C. The other coins are four drachma imitations from Dyrrhachium,
a Dyrrhachium-Apollonia hybrid imitation, and an unspecified piece. Most of the coins have been affected
by burning and are partially covered by a brown-colored deposit. The burning caused flattening, sometimes
fracturing of the flan, the erasure of some iconographic elements, a few copies retaining imprinted traces of
incandescent objects with which they had contact. The drachmas of group IV represent only 5.35% of the 243
original issues, but attest to six eponymous magistrates, in whose mandate eight moneyers were active. The oldest
coin is from the eponymous Aristenos IV and the moneyer Kerdon (119 BC), the best represented is the
eponymous Damenos, in association with five moneyers. The coins of group V hold the share (94.65%). 12 of the
13 known eponyms and only four moneyers are attested. The best documented are Meniskos and Xenon, by
87.25% of coins. The most drachmas bear the names of the eponyms Dionysios (67 ex.) and Lykiskos (34 ex.),
indicating a constitution of the monetary lot around the years 89-88 BC. The hoard ends with the drachmas of
the eponymous Aristenos VI, minted by the moneyers Philon and Silanos (86 BC). Four of the imitations
reproduce coins of the moneyers Xenon and Meniskos, the fifth one being a combination of a Dyrrhachian obverse
from the moneyer Xenon and a reverse from the eponymous Agenos of Apollonia. The average weight of the coins
is lower than that of other coin hoards from Dacia, the quantitative "peaks" being of 2.55 g and 2.75 g. The coins
were struck carelessly, off-center, on smaller flans than the dies, showing the concern for the greatest possible
production in a short time, specific to the coinage in the crisis periods. The Ormeniș hoard arrived in eastern
Transylvania in the context of the great influx of silver coins from the years 75-70/65 in the north-Danube regions,
influenced by the Roman military campaigns in Balkans and Pontus, after the mints of Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia had ceased their production of drachmas. Large amounts of drachmas and other coins issued under
Roman authority entered Dacia, in large lots pre-established in the area of origin, which were hoarded and
sometimes redistributed. A provenance as a consequence of the looting raids led by Burebista in the Illyrian area
– reported by Strabo – is not excluded. The hoard followed the diffusion path indicated by the discoveries map,
from western Transylvania to the area of Eastern Carpathians, along the valleys of the main rivers. It is likely that
it was lost, perhaps in a fire, before the coins were distributed and used.
The coins are imitations of Macedonian type, having as initial pattern the tetradrachms of Philip II issued after 348 BC, with the representation of the Olympic rider on the reverse. K. Pink classified them as part of the eastern Celtic coinage and named them of Kreuzelreiter type because of the cruciform symbol on the reverse.
There are two categories of such imitations, with similar iconography, but with different chronology. The coins in the hoard of Băbeni have a weight average of 11,37 g, about 23-25 mm, the flan slightly scyphate and were made of good silver. They belong to the first category, represented by large and well-made coins, stylistically inspired by the earliest monetary types of imitation in northern and western Dacia, which are well documented in the big hoards discovered at Tulghieş (Maramureş county), Şilindia (Arad county) and in the area of Banat. These large Kreuzelreiter coins have been issued most likely in course of the last quarter to the end of the 3rd Century BC. Besides the hoard of Băbeni, they are also known from the hoards of Sighetu Marmaţiei (Maramureş county) - at least four such coins in combination with imitations of other types, Vânători (Vrancea county) - 91 ex. and in some isolated finds, mainly from the area of the counties Buzău and Vrancea and the neighborhood.
The second category is best illustrated by the hoard discovered in Dumbrăveni (Vrancea county), composed of 263 small coins (average weight of 4.23 g) of more “barbarized” style, dating back to the middle or the second half of the 2nd Century BC. Based on this discovery, the name “Dumbrăveni”, which had become eponymous, had been extended to all coins with Kreuzelreiter iconography, the two mentioned categories being attributed to the same imitative type, as representing different nominal values.
This article attempts to demonstrate that the Kreuzelreiter large coins, also documented in the hoard of Băbeni, were struck at least half a century earlier, having probably other artisans, eventually also other users than the coins of the second category represented by the hoard of Dumbrăveni.
The numismatic material presented below comes from the archaeological researches carried out within the project ANR-Pont Euxin. Orgamè, nécropole et territoire, coordinated by Alexandre Baralis (Musée du Louvre) and Vasilica Lungu (ISSEE). Most of the 16 monetary pieces are dated during the 6th-3rd centuries BC and in the late Roman Empire, as follows: five „arrowheads”, an early Istrian coin of Apollo type, an undetermined small Greek coin and nine Roman nummi of the 4th Century AD (including an imitation), dating from Constantine I to Valens. Despite the small number, the coins in the catalogue enrich the information known so far, including two more rarely encountered items. They confirm a high level of commercial activities at Orgame / Argamum and its surroundings in the 6th-5th century BC, but also during the era of Dominate, attested by at least three large „arrowheads” hoards, also by an important coin hoard and many isolated pieces of the 4th century AD.
During the 2013-2017 systematic research taking place in the „South Sector” of the archaeological resort Histria, 85 coins were collected, out of which 68 exemplars (80%) were identified. The excavations have been focused on the north-west boundary of the sector, corresponding to the western part of the enclosure and the compartments of an important edifice identified as early as 2011-2012. The size of the coin batch indicates a certain dynamics of monetary presence in an area probably intensely inhabited in the Roman Histria between the second half of the 2nd Century AD and the end of the Tetrarchy. The restriction of the fortified enclosure and implicitly of the urban area during the late Roman Empire, abandoned the area of the great edifice to the extra muros zone, to be overlapped by two levels of necropolis. The 68 coins are chronologically distributed as follows: six coins from the age before the Roman rule, 40 coins from the period of Principate (seven denars, 18 antoninians, one sestertius, one dupondius, 13 provincial coins), 16 Late Roman coins and six Byzantine coins from the 6th Century AD. Along with monetary issues already documented in the finds at Histria, there are also rarities such as: a coin from the late period of the city's autonomy, bearing an uncommon countermark (No. 6); Istrian coins by Antoninus Pius and Caracalla, of less known types (No. 8, 13) respectively a pseudo-autonomous coin with the ICTPI legend engraved in an unusual way (No. 14); a piece of 4 Assaria of Nicopolis ad Istrum, with a type of reverse not yet documented for the governance of Lower Moesia by L. Aurelius Gallus, 202-205 AD (no.12); the single one antoninianus from Gordian III so far registered at Histria (No. 27); an antoninianus issued by Vabalathus (No 38). The structure of the batch generally confirms the previous remarks – occasioned by the publication of the first batch of coins in 2014 – about the monetary presence in the southern area of the studied urban center. Probably most of the coins appeared in a secondary position, with no stratigraphic significance. Exceptions are made by some pieces found in the debris of the walls and on the treading level of the studied building, at least 16 of which could constitute chronological points of reference. The numismatic material indicates a hypothetical building of the great edifice, probably of public utility, in the first part of the 3rd Century AD. After a plausible destruction by fire during the "Scythian War", it was probably partially rebuilt in the days of Aurelian or Probus, and functioned until the beginning of the second decade of the 4th century AD, when it was finally devastated, apparently in the course of another fire. The coins that were sporadically penetrated later do not reflect the habitation of the area, being related rather to funerary systematizations in the second half of the 4th Century AD and later. For a general overview, the full list of the coin finds at Histria- the „South Sector” is attached.
The authors present a coin hoard of base metal, kept in the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldavia (Kishinev). The 42 coins have been found at Vadul lui Isac, Cahul district (former Vulcăneşti), on the lower Prut valley, in the southern Republic of Moldova. About a decade ago they were presented, in a Symposium of Numismatics, as an uncertain hoard, considering its strange structure (a mixture of early and late Roman imperial coins) and the sketchy information on the circumstances of the recovery. After this finding was revalued, it is no doubt that the coins constitute a hoard, with a homogenous structure and a similar preservation of the pieces.
The hoard comprises two equal groups (21 pieces each), as follows: an earlier one from the late Principate and a compact bunch of nummi from the 4th Century. The earliest ones are two provincial coins from Thrace and Bithynia, respectively a subaerate denarius of Caracalla. They are succeeded by 18 billon antoninianii issued by six emperors: Valerian I, Gallienus (6 ex., after A.D. 260), Claudius Gothicus (3 ex.), Aurelianus (5 ex.), Probus, Maximianus Herculeus (2 ex.). A rare coin from Tripolis of Syria, unprecedented in the Bessarabian area, is noteworthy. The Late Roman group comprises nummii from AD 313-315 to the conjointed reign of Valentinian and Valens, with a better representation of the periods 318-324 (6 ex. = 28.57%) and 364-378 (5 ex. = 23.80%).
The principal analogies are the two such hoards until now discovered in the southern Republic of Moldavia at Goteşti, Cantemir district (about 200 ex.; inedited) and passim (59 ex.; recently published in SCN, n.s., 4, 2013).
We suppose that the coins of Vadul lui Isac hoard could come in the area of finding from Scythia Minor. As statistics on the represented mints show, at least the late Roman group was constituted in the western or perhaps central-balcanic part of the Empire. Most probably the two groups of coins of the hoard came from the Empire in “already constituted” form, maybe not simultaneously, in this case being later associated in a single hoard. At least five coin hoards from Dobroudja and many others north of the Danube (mainly in Banat) have affined structures.
but rather a different set of reasons. The preservation of the hoard is only partial, considering that its exact composition is unknown the chronological framework of the individual pieces should not be extrapolated to the hoard itself which is thus unfit to sustain any kind of historical argument and hypothesis. Furthermore, we observed that the most important hoards from the 4–5th centuries, also including
the treasure from Valea-Strâmbă, have a common feature. Taking into consideration the hoards with precise place of discovery it becomes evident that in virtually all cases the locations chosen for concealment are conspicuous from a topographic point of view, standing out of their environment. The seven cases mentioned in the article indicate that concerning the 4th and 5th century hoards we are not simply
dealing with a phenomenon of tezaurization, but a cultural manifestation of the late antique power elites spread throughout a considerable geographical area.
The author presents 203 ancient and byzantine coins, all of base metal, discovered in the district “Viile Noi” of Constanţa, during the years 1927-1929. They arrived into the private collection P. Popovăţ, being later purchased by the Romanian Numismatic Society. As in other known cases, although the coins have been offered for purchase as isolated findings, the structure of the batch shows that they could resulted from more places of the mentioned area and the current distribution is likely due to a selection. Hypothetically, numerous good preserved Roman coins and certain homogenous groups of pieces (as the latest antoninianii or some nummii) appear to come from graves, quite plausible given that in the “Viile Noi” area two Roman necropolis have been reported.
This would explain why many coins are base metal, if included in this category exemplaries of billon, silver plated billon or a bronze cast imitation about imperial denarii. But in case of the (well represented) isolated ones, which are usually found in association with some silver pieces, the exclusiveness of the bronze undoubtedly reveals a certain selection in the private collection.
The batch is really varied, comprising many issues extremely rare in the currency of Tomis and Dobrudja, and some pieces even inedited. The period represented is very wide, ranging from the 5th Century B.C. to the 13th Century A.D. The coins are distributed as follows: 18 Greek coins (six “autonomous” and 12 provincial issues), 171 Roman coins (27 ex. of the 1st-3rd centuries A.D. and 144 ex. from the period 294-423/5 A.D.) and 14 Byzantine coins (seven pieces dated in the 6th Century A.D, five late folles from the 11th Century A.D. and two billon “Latin imitations” issued after 1204).
The most of the Greek issues come from the Moesia Inferior zone, from where the provincial ones of 4 assaria are prevailing, but are also described some rare coins of Punic Sicily, Attica, Mysia, Bithynia and Egypt. A special mention concerns an unprecedented variant of an “autonomous” coin of Tomis (nr. 4). For the 1st-3rd centuries the most numerous imperial bronze denomination is the as; the antoninianii of the Claudius Gothicus-Probus period come in the majority from Rome, Siscia and Cyzicus. The late Roman currency is well represented mainly for the first half of the 4th Century A.D., in accordance with the general statistics for Tomis, which gives a considerable additional information. As rarities for Dobrudja we mention the issues of Carthage and Lugdunum (nr. 51, 138), a rare type of Diocletianus (nr. 46), a coin of Treveri with corrupt legend (nr. 62), a piece of ½ follis from Rome (nr. 55), a rare posthumous nummus of Constantius I (nr. 67) and another one of Constantine, with a unusual location of the workshop mark (nr. 132), respectively a maiorina of Decentius (nr. 149). The other late Roman issues (after 354 A.D.) and the Byzantine ones do not reflect the natural structure of the Dobrudjan currency, being clearly selected, but they are significantly enriching the previous statistics.
The authors present a Geto-Dacian coin hoard of 124 pieces found in situ during the archaeological excavations from 1973-1974 in the southeastern side of the settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău county (2nd –1st centuries BC). The coins had been deposited in a small pit at 60-65cms depth, maybe into a perishable cover, which has left no trace. Partially they were dispersed around the pit, perhaps because of the burrows made by animals. Another 12 isolated pieces were discovered in the last habitation level of this dava as autonomous centre of power. The coins of the hoard belong to the large group of so-called “late imitations of Philip II type”, characterized by a stylization of the iconographic elements and a gradual debasement of the metal and named mit Sattelkopfpferd by K. Pink, who attributed them to the Dacian communities. Pink dated these issues in the 1st century BC and divided them in a “good style” one and another four decline stages, corresponding with so-named by C. Preda the “Adâncata-Mânăstirea”, “Vârteju-Bucureşti” and “Inoteşti-Răcoasa” monetary types.
From the iconographic aspect the coins from the Cârlomăneşti hoard belong to the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type (equivalent to the “second degradation stage” of the Sattelkopfpferd type of Pink), rendering, very abstractly, a bearded human effigy on the obverse and a horseman on the reverse. However, they present own certain features, even beside the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” standard. An important one is the metrological aspect, which refers about the differences between these coins and the majority of the common “Vârteju-Bucureşti” issues. Usually, these ones weigh about 7-8 g; but the Cârlomăneşti pieces are visible lighter: 4 to 6 g. The diameter is also different. From the chronological point of view, this category of “light” imitations, well represented in the Cârlomăneşti hoard, seems to be later than the common one. The coins of the hoard are themselves dividing into two main categories of issues: 55 pieces were struck, but an important amount of coins (69 pieces) has been made by casting. Although all of them have a concave-convex form and, at first sight, seem to be made from an alloy based on silver and copper. Their variable aspect results from the technical process that has been used. The struck coins have a smaller weight (about 4-5 g) and their surfaces are penetrated by many oxide traces, whereas the flan area of the cast pieces has a unitary appearance of the silver stratum and the weight goes beyond 5 g. The entire cast pieces have been identically reproduced according to three struck prototypes, suitable to so-called A, B and C series from the catalogue. Their flans have air bubble traces and some rests of metal disposed in the same place on the each cast piece, like the struck prototype. As a relation between the two different groups of coins from the Cârlomăneşti hoard that we observed, two struck coins were made with the same dies as the coin used as a pattern for a few cast pieces.
It should be mentioned here that the all 12 isolated coins were struck (eight of “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type and another four imitations of “Inoteşti-Răcoasa”, “Alexander-Philipp III”, Dyrrhachium and Thasos types).
As part of the Archaeomet research project, 33 coins of the hoard and a single isolate one have been x-ray fluorescence (XRF) method analysed at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering “Horia Hulubei” by prof. V. Cojocaru. The investigations have also detected two structural groups, confirming the numismatist’s observations. 20 analysed struck coins are constituted mainly by four elements (in significant quantity) – silver, copper, tin and lead – while the fourteen cast coins are made of a binary alloy of silver and copper. Also, the cast coins are made of an inhomogeneous alloy of silver and copper, with different concentrations of the elements in various points.
It is difficult to prove if the coins belong to the same mint or whether that mint was situated inside of the Cârlomăneşti settlement. Because no cast coin was found out of the hoard, it is presumably that these ones had not been used, but we can agree that they could be made here; that’s not the case of the struck pieces. The archaeological researches show a sudden end of that settlement, perhaps towards the middle of the 1st century BC or later. The hoard seems to be buried in haste, the two categories being probably in this way associated.
For this variant of the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type a few analogies are known, only for the cast pieces and their prototypes. Several Cârlomăneşti coins have been struck with the same dies as other ones from the hoards of Curtea de Argeş (Argeş County) and Râfov (Prahova County). These two hoards however comprise only struck pieces, not cast. Some isolated findings are too known.
As the numismatists generally agreed, the “Vârteju” coins, widespread mainly in the plain zones of Oltenia and Walachia, ceased in the first half of the 1st century BC. Although their lighter correspondents continue the iconographic line, they have not been found in the same area, but, as it seem, in the Sub-Carpathian. That shows at least a chronological difference between them. We can presume that the late variant of the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type, now well-known from the hoard of Cârlomăneşti, continued till about the middle of the 1st century B.C.
This paper also includes some considerations about the structure of the 2nd-1st B.C. centuries mixed coin hoards in the Lower-Danubian area and about the relative chronology of the later imitative Geto-Dacian coins.
This paper presents some recent findings from the archaeological excavations in the dava-settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău county. As isolated pieces, two coins – imitations of Macedonian prototype, belonging to so-called “Vârteju-Bucureşti” (“mit Sattelkopfpferd”) and “Alexander the Great-Philip Arrhidaeus” types –, both dated in the 2nd-1st centuries B.C., were found nearly of a round unprinted piece of metal, perhaps a monetary blank. For this one, the XRF-analysis detected a composition of Cu 59,5%, Ag 31,3%, Sn 7,4%, Pb 0,7%, Au 0,25%. All of them came out from the last habitation level of the dava. Another “Vârteju” coin, till now considered lost, complements the recent published hoard of 124 such coins and proved to be the earliest one of these. Based on the appearance of the just mentioned “Vârteju” isolated coin struck with the same dies as other one found in the dava of Popeşti (Giurgiu county, on the lower valley of Argeş river), some considerations about the similar numismatic inventory from the two Dacian settlements, indicating a contemporary period of living, are also made.
The author presents some details regarding the siliqua coin hoard of vota-type discovered in 1951 in the village of Budăi, the only one of this type completely recovered, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.Over the course of several decades, several summary reports were made about this discovery in works of the chronicle or repertoire type, but a publication of the coins (126 pieces out of the total of 128 discovered) kept in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History in Chisinau could only be made in 2014, in the volume V.1 of the Corpus Nummorum Moldaviae series.Since the format of the publication did not allow a commentary to accompany the catalog and the illustration, some clarifications are made now, regarding the history and bibliography of the discovery, the structure of the monetary hoard, as well as the chronology and diffusion north of the Danube of the siliquae from the last part of the reign of Constantius II and from the first years of the house of Valentinian I.The 126 coins are "heavy" siliquae equivalent to the Constantinian argentei, issued prior to Constantius II's reform of AD 358. They were struck at Sirmium (28), Constantinople (90) and Antioch (8).Except of a single coin struck before AD 353 in Constantinople, all the others, of the vota tricennalia type, date from the interval 353-358.Among the coins from Constantinople, representing over 70% of the total, the best documented is the issue with a dot in exergue (63 siliquae minted in all of the officinae).From Sirmium, a specimen of a possible unpublished issue, marked SIRMѠ, should be noted, unless it is another way of rendering the mark of the SIRMŮ series, dated by J.P.C. Kent in the years 351-355; from Antioch, a rare issue attested by a piece from the 4th officina (ANTΔ), for which Kent only knew specimens from the Θ workshop.The imitative piece, previously published, seems to be of local origin, as indicated by analogies from the Republic of Moldova, eastern Romania and western Ukraine.The known integral composition of the hoard from Budăi constitutes it as a chronological benchmark for other siliquae hoards between the Prut and Dniester, in a more or less fragmentary state, discovered at: Lărguța, Chișinău, Taraclia, Capaclia, Braniște and an unlocated point in Orhei district (Republic of Moldova), respectively Holms'ke, Odesa region (Ukraine), the latter also containing an imitation.According to the known issues, the listed hoards do not seem to end later than the decade 355-365/366, the hiding of the coins in the ground may be related to the context of the events of the early years of the Valentinian dynasty.
Republic of Moldova, containing provincial issues from the Marcus Aurelius - Philippus
period, of some mints from Thrace and Macedonia. Some of them are attested for the first
time in this area outside the borders of the Roman Empire, being little known in the whole
region of the Lower Danube, such as that the one of Nicopolis ad Mestum. Most likely, it
is a "purse hoard", a small amount for current expenses, set up somewhere in the South
Balkans and brought north of the limes through the movement of people, not by trade.
3 silver jewellery (a bracelet, a fibula and a fragment of a spiral ring) and 19 Roman Republican denarii dating
between the first half of the 2nd Century BC and the Second Triumvirate. The main analogues for silver jewellery
associated with coins are the hoards from Remetea Mare and Cerbăl, respectively (only for jewellry) the hoard of
Săliștea, all three ones roughly dating between the second half of the 1st Century BC and the first quarter of the
1st Century AD. Taking into account the structure of the monetary batch as well as the analogies of jewellery, it
is plausible that the hoard from Cândești dates back to the Augustan period, i.e., to the last quarter of the 1st
century BC - first decade of the 1st century AD.
2. Această „componentă feminină” a tezaurului ne determină să considerăm depunerea ca având potențial caracter sacru (Fig. 8).
3. Deși tezaurul a fost doar parțial recuperat, fără să cunoaștem componența originală a depunerii, pare a avea un inventar mult mai puțin bogat în comparație cu tezaurele din secolul al V-lea.
4. Pe baza analizei cronologice efectuate în precedentul studiu (n. 18), am ajuns la concluzia că tezaurul a fost în mod eronat datat, în special pe baza cronologiei fibulei, deși există piese din tezaur ce au putut fi utilizate timp îndelungat.
Putem conchide că tezaurul ar putea constitui o depunere rituală de la sfârșitul secolului al IV-lea - începutul secolului al V-lea, fără nicio legătură cu atacul hunilor la Nistru în 376 (de menționat că între Valea-Strâmbă și Nistru, fără să punem la socoteală Carpații Orientali, Siretul și Prutul, sunt 311 km în linie dreaptă), prin urmare nici cu dispariția unui concept abstract, numit cultura arheologică Sântana de Mureș-Černjachov.
Brașov county, on a sloping plateau, at the top of a wooded hill, in the area of the Olt River gorge in the Perșani
mountains. The coins were scattered over about 9 sqm, probably following a landslide, at a depth of 30-40 cm.
The finding place is located approximately 6 km southeast of the Dacian settlement and fortification on the Tipia
Ormenișului hill, where monetary discoveries were made, including such a drachma. Also nearby, a hoard of
Roman denarii was discovered. Of the total coins of the Ormeniș hoard, 243 are drachmas that could be attributed
to magistrates from groups IV and V of issues of Dyrrhachium, according to N. Conovici's chronology, dated
between 153-98 B.C., respectively 97-85 B.C. The other coins are four drachma imitations from Dyrrhachium,
a Dyrrhachium-Apollonia hybrid imitation, and an unspecified piece. Most of the coins have been affected
by burning and are partially covered by a brown-colored deposit. The burning caused flattening, sometimes
fracturing of the flan, the erasure of some iconographic elements, a few copies retaining imprinted traces of
incandescent objects with which they had contact. The drachmas of group IV represent only 5.35% of the 243
original issues, but attest to six eponymous magistrates, in whose mandate eight moneyers were active. The oldest
coin is from the eponymous Aristenos IV and the moneyer Kerdon (119 BC), the best represented is the
eponymous Damenos, in association with five moneyers. The coins of group V hold the share (94.65%). 12 of the
13 known eponyms and only four moneyers are attested. The best documented are Meniskos and Xenon, by
87.25% of coins. The most drachmas bear the names of the eponyms Dionysios (67 ex.) and Lykiskos (34 ex.),
indicating a constitution of the monetary lot around the years 89-88 BC. The hoard ends with the drachmas of
the eponymous Aristenos VI, minted by the moneyers Philon and Silanos (86 BC). Four of the imitations
reproduce coins of the moneyers Xenon and Meniskos, the fifth one being a combination of a Dyrrhachian obverse
from the moneyer Xenon and a reverse from the eponymous Agenos of Apollonia. The average weight of the coins
is lower than that of other coin hoards from Dacia, the quantitative "peaks" being of 2.55 g and 2.75 g. The coins
were struck carelessly, off-center, on smaller flans than the dies, showing the concern for the greatest possible
production in a short time, specific to the coinage in the crisis periods. The Ormeniș hoard arrived in eastern
Transylvania in the context of the great influx of silver coins from the years 75-70/65 in the north-Danube regions,
influenced by the Roman military campaigns in Balkans and Pontus, after the mints of Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia had ceased their production of drachmas. Large amounts of drachmas and other coins issued under
Roman authority entered Dacia, in large lots pre-established in the area of origin, which were hoarded and
sometimes redistributed. A provenance as a consequence of the looting raids led by Burebista in the Illyrian area
– reported by Strabo – is not excluded. The hoard followed the diffusion path indicated by the discoveries map,
from western Transylvania to the area of Eastern Carpathians, along the valleys of the main rivers. It is likely that
it was lost, perhaps in a fire, before the coins were distributed and used.
The coins are imitations of Macedonian type, having as initial pattern the tetradrachms of Philip II issued after 348 BC, with the representation of the Olympic rider on the reverse. K. Pink classified them as part of the eastern Celtic coinage and named them of Kreuzelreiter type because of the cruciform symbol on the reverse.
There are two categories of such imitations, with similar iconography, but with different chronology. The coins in the hoard of Băbeni have a weight average of 11,37 g, about 23-25 mm, the flan slightly scyphate and were made of good silver. They belong to the first category, represented by large and well-made coins, stylistically inspired by the earliest monetary types of imitation in northern and western Dacia, which are well documented in the big hoards discovered at Tulghieş (Maramureş county), Şilindia (Arad county) and in the area of Banat. These large Kreuzelreiter coins have been issued most likely in course of the last quarter to the end of the 3rd Century BC. Besides the hoard of Băbeni, they are also known from the hoards of Sighetu Marmaţiei (Maramureş county) - at least four such coins in combination with imitations of other types, Vânători (Vrancea county) - 91 ex. and in some isolated finds, mainly from the area of the counties Buzău and Vrancea and the neighborhood.
The second category is best illustrated by the hoard discovered in Dumbrăveni (Vrancea county), composed of 263 small coins (average weight of 4.23 g) of more “barbarized” style, dating back to the middle or the second half of the 2nd Century BC. Based on this discovery, the name “Dumbrăveni”, which had become eponymous, had been extended to all coins with Kreuzelreiter iconography, the two mentioned categories being attributed to the same imitative type, as representing different nominal values.
This article attempts to demonstrate that the Kreuzelreiter large coins, also documented in the hoard of Băbeni, were struck at least half a century earlier, having probably other artisans, eventually also other users than the coins of the second category represented by the hoard of Dumbrăveni.
The numismatic material presented below comes from the archaeological researches carried out within the project ANR-Pont Euxin. Orgamè, nécropole et territoire, coordinated by Alexandre Baralis (Musée du Louvre) and Vasilica Lungu (ISSEE). Most of the 16 monetary pieces are dated during the 6th-3rd centuries BC and in the late Roman Empire, as follows: five „arrowheads”, an early Istrian coin of Apollo type, an undetermined small Greek coin and nine Roman nummi of the 4th Century AD (including an imitation), dating from Constantine I to Valens. Despite the small number, the coins in the catalogue enrich the information known so far, including two more rarely encountered items. They confirm a high level of commercial activities at Orgame / Argamum and its surroundings in the 6th-5th century BC, but also during the era of Dominate, attested by at least three large „arrowheads” hoards, also by an important coin hoard and many isolated pieces of the 4th century AD.
During the 2013-2017 systematic research taking place in the „South Sector” of the archaeological resort Histria, 85 coins were collected, out of which 68 exemplars (80%) were identified. The excavations have been focused on the north-west boundary of the sector, corresponding to the western part of the enclosure and the compartments of an important edifice identified as early as 2011-2012. The size of the coin batch indicates a certain dynamics of monetary presence in an area probably intensely inhabited in the Roman Histria between the second half of the 2nd Century AD and the end of the Tetrarchy. The restriction of the fortified enclosure and implicitly of the urban area during the late Roman Empire, abandoned the area of the great edifice to the extra muros zone, to be overlapped by two levels of necropolis. The 68 coins are chronologically distributed as follows: six coins from the age before the Roman rule, 40 coins from the period of Principate (seven denars, 18 antoninians, one sestertius, one dupondius, 13 provincial coins), 16 Late Roman coins and six Byzantine coins from the 6th Century AD. Along with monetary issues already documented in the finds at Histria, there are also rarities such as: a coin from the late period of the city's autonomy, bearing an uncommon countermark (No. 6); Istrian coins by Antoninus Pius and Caracalla, of less known types (No. 8, 13) respectively a pseudo-autonomous coin with the ICTPI legend engraved in an unusual way (No. 14); a piece of 4 Assaria of Nicopolis ad Istrum, with a type of reverse not yet documented for the governance of Lower Moesia by L. Aurelius Gallus, 202-205 AD (no.12); the single one antoninianus from Gordian III so far registered at Histria (No. 27); an antoninianus issued by Vabalathus (No 38). The structure of the batch generally confirms the previous remarks – occasioned by the publication of the first batch of coins in 2014 – about the monetary presence in the southern area of the studied urban center. Probably most of the coins appeared in a secondary position, with no stratigraphic significance. Exceptions are made by some pieces found in the debris of the walls and on the treading level of the studied building, at least 16 of which could constitute chronological points of reference. The numismatic material indicates a hypothetical building of the great edifice, probably of public utility, in the first part of the 3rd Century AD. After a plausible destruction by fire during the "Scythian War", it was probably partially rebuilt in the days of Aurelian or Probus, and functioned until the beginning of the second decade of the 4th century AD, when it was finally devastated, apparently in the course of another fire. The coins that were sporadically penetrated later do not reflect the habitation of the area, being related rather to funerary systematizations in the second half of the 4th Century AD and later. For a general overview, the full list of the coin finds at Histria- the „South Sector” is attached.
The authors present a coin hoard of base metal, kept in the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldavia (Kishinev). The 42 coins have been found at Vadul lui Isac, Cahul district (former Vulcăneşti), on the lower Prut valley, in the southern Republic of Moldova. About a decade ago they were presented, in a Symposium of Numismatics, as an uncertain hoard, considering its strange structure (a mixture of early and late Roman imperial coins) and the sketchy information on the circumstances of the recovery. After this finding was revalued, it is no doubt that the coins constitute a hoard, with a homogenous structure and a similar preservation of the pieces.
The hoard comprises two equal groups (21 pieces each), as follows: an earlier one from the late Principate and a compact bunch of nummi from the 4th Century. The earliest ones are two provincial coins from Thrace and Bithynia, respectively a subaerate denarius of Caracalla. They are succeeded by 18 billon antoninianii issued by six emperors: Valerian I, Gallienus (6 ex., after A.D. 260), Claudius Gothicus (3 ex.), Aurelianus (5 ex.), Probus, Maximianus Herculeus (2 ex.). A rare coin from Tripolis of Syria, unprecedented in the Bessarabian area, is noteworthy. The Late Roman group comprises nummii from AD 313-315 to the conjointed reign of Valentinian and Valens, with a better representation of the periods 318-324 (6 ex. = 28.57%) and 364-378 (5 ex. = 23.80%).
The principal analogies are the two such hoards until now discovered in the southern Republic of Moldavia at Goteşti, Cantemir district (about 200 ex.; inedited) and passim (59 ex.; recently published in SCN, n.s., 4, 2013).
We suppose that the coins of Vadul lui Isac hoard could come in the area of finding from Scythia Minor. As statistics on the represented mints show, at least the late Roman group was constituted in the western or perhaps central-balcanic part of the Empire. Most probably the two groups of coins of the hoard came from the Empire in “already constituted” form, maybe not simultaneously, in this case being later associated in a single hoard. At least five coin hoards from Dobroudja and many others north of the Danube (mainly in Banat) have affined structures.
but rather a different set of reasons. The preservation of the hoard is only partial, considering that its exact composition is unknown the chronological framework of the individual pieces should not be extrapolated to the hoard itself which is thus unfit to sustain any kind of historical argument and hypothesis. Furthermore, we observed that the most important hoards from the 4–5th centuries, also including
the treasure from Valea-Strâmbă, have a common feature. Taking into consideration the hoards with precise place of discovery it becomes evident that in virtually all cases the locations chosen for concealment are conspicuous from a topographic point of view, standing out of their environment. The seven cases mentioned in the article indicate that concerning the 4th and 5th century hoards we are not simply
dealing with a phenomenon of tezaurization, but a cultural manifestation of the late antique power elites spread throughout a considerable geographical area.
The author presents 203 ancient and byzantine coins, all of base metal, discovered in the district “Viile Noi” of Constanţa, during the years 1927-1929. They arrived into the private collection P. Popovăţ, being later purchased by the Romanian Numismatic Society. As in other known cases, although the coins have been offered for purchase as isolated findings, the structure of the batch shows that they could resulted from more places of the mentioned area and the current distribution is likely due to a selection. Hypothetically, numerous good preserved Roman coins and certain homogenous groups of pieces (as the latest antoninianii or some nummii) appear to come from graves, quite plausible given that in the “Viile Noi” area two Roman necropolis have been reported.
This would explain why many coins are base metal, if included in this category exemplaries of billon, silver plated billon or a bronze cast imitation about imperial denarii. But in case of the (well represented) isolated ones, which are usually found in association with some silver pieces, the exclusiveness of the bronze undoubtedly reveals a certain selection in the private collection.
The batch is really varied, comprising many issues extremely rare in the currency of Tomis and Dobrudja, and some pieces even inedited. The period represented is very wide, ranging from the 5th Century B.C. to the 13th Century A.D. The coins are distributed as follows: 18 Greek coins (six “autonomous” and 12 provincial issues), 171 Roman coins (27 ex. of the 1st-3rd centuries A.D. and 144 ex. from the period 294-423/5 A.D.) and 14 Byzantine coins (seven pieces dated in the 6th Century A.D, five late folles from the 11th Century A.D. and two billon “Latin imitations” issued after 1204).
The most of the Greek issues come from the Moesia Inferior zone, from where the provincial ones of 4 assaria are prevailing, but are also described some rare coins of Punic Sicily, Attica, Mysia, Bithynia and Egypt. A special mention concerns an unprecedented variant of an “autonomous” coin of Tomis (nr. 4). For the 1st-3rd centuries the most numerous imperial bronze denomination is the as; the antoninianii of the Claudius Gothicus-Probus period come in the majority from Rome, Siscia and Cyzicus. The late Roman currency is well represented mainly for the first half of the 4th Century A.D., in accordance with the general statistics for Tomis, which gives a considerable additional information. As rarities for Dobrudja we mention the issues of Carthage and Lugdunum (nr. 51, 138), a rare type of Diocletianus (nr. 46), a coin of Treveri with corrupt legend (nr. 62), a piece of ½ follis from Rome (nr. 55), a rare posthumous nummus of Constantius I (nr. 67) and another one of Constantine, with a unusual location of the workshop mark (nr. 132), respectively a maiorina of Decentius (nr. 149). The other late Roman issues (after 354 A.D.) and the Byzantine ones do not reflect the natural structure of the Dobrudjan currency, being clearly selected, but they are significantly enriching the previous statistics.
The authors present a Geto-Dacian coin hoard of 124 pieces found in situ during the archaeological excavations from 1973-1974 in the southeastern side of the settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău county (2nd –1st centuries BC). The coins had been deposited in a small pit at 60-65cms depth, maybe into a perishable cover, which has left no trace. Partially they were dispersed around the pit, perhaps because of the burrows made by animals. Another 12 isolated pieces were discovered in the last habitation level of this dava as autonomous centre of power. The coins of the hoard belong to the large group of so-called “late imitations of Philip II type”, characterized by a stylization of the iconographic elements and a gradual debasement of the metal and named mit Sattelkopfpferd by K. Pink, who attributed them to the Dacian communities. Pink dated these issues in the 1st century BC and divided them in a “good style” one and another four decline stages, corresponding with so-named by C. Preda the “Adâncata-Mânăstirea”, “Vârteju-Bucureşti” and “Inoteşti-Răcoasa” monetary types.
From the iconographic aspect the coins from the Cârlomăneşti hoard belong to the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type (equivalent to the “second degradation stage” of the Sattelkopfpferd type of Pink), rendering, very abstractly, a bearded human effigy on the obverse and a horseman on the reverse. However, they present own certain features, even beside the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” standard. An important one is the metrological aspect, which refers about the differences between these coins and the majority of the common “Vârteju-Bucureşti” issues. Usually, these ones weigh about 7-8 g; but the Cârlomăneşti pieces are visible lighter: 4 to 6 g. The diameter is also different. From the chronological point of view, this category of “light” imitations, well represented in the Cârlomăneşti hoard, seems to be later than the common one. The coins of the hoard are themselves dividing into two main categories of issues: 55 pieces were struck, but an important amount of coins (69 pieces) has been made by casting. Although all of them have a concave-convex form and, at first sight, seem to be made from an alloy based on silver and copper. Their variable aspect results from the technical process that has been used. The struck coins have a smaller weight (about 4-5 g) and their surfaces are penetrated by many oxide traces, whereas the flan area of the cast pieces has a unitary appearance of the silver stratum and the weight goes beyond 5 g. The entire cast pieces have been identically reproduced according to three struck prototypes, suitable to so-called A, B and C series from the catalogue. Their flans have air bubble traces and some rests of metal disposed in the same place on the each cast piece, like the struck prototype. As a relation between the two different groups of coins from the Cârlomăneşti hoard that we observed, two struck coins were made with the same dies as the coin used as a pattern for a few cast pieces.
It should be mentioned here that the all 12 isolated coins were struck (eight of “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type and another four imitations of “Inoteşti-Răcoasa”, “Alexander-Philipp III”, Dyrrhachium and Thasos types).
As part of the Archaeomet research project, 33 coins of the hoard and a single isolate one have been x-ray fluorescence (XRF) method analysed at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering “Horia Hulubei” by prof. V. Cojocaru. The investigations have also detected two structural groups, confirming the numismatist’s observations. 20 analysed struck coins are constituted mainly by four elements (in significant quantity) – silver, copper, tin and lead – while the fourteen cast coins are made of a binary alloy of silver and copper. Also, the cast coins are made of an inhomogeneous alloy of silver and copper, with different concentrations of the elements in various points.
It is difficult to prove if the coins belong to the same mint or whether that mint was situated inside of the Cârlomăneşti settlement. Because no cast coin was found out of the hoard, it is presumably that these ones had not been used, but we can agree that they could be made here; that’s not the case of the struck pieces. The archaeological researches show a sudden end of that settlement, perhaps towards the middle of the 1st century BC or later. The hoard seems to be buried in haste, the two categories being probably in this way associated.
For this variant of the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type a few analogies are known, only for the cast pieces and their prototypes. Several Cârlomăneşti coins have been struck with the same dies as other ones from the hoards of Curtea de Argeş (Argeş County) and Râfov (Prahova County). These two hoards however comprise only struck pieces, not cast. Some isolated findings are too known.
As the numismatists generally agreed, the “Vârteju” coins, widespread mainly in the plain zones of Oltenia and Walachia, ceased in the first half of the 1st century BC. Although their lighter correspondents continue the iconographic line, they have not been found in the same area, but, as it seem, in the Sub-Carpathian. That shows at least a chronological difference between them. We can presume that the late variant of the “Vârteju-Bucureşti” type, now well-known from the hoard of Cârlomăneşti, continued till about the middle of the 1st century B.C.
This paper also includes some considerations about the structure of the 2nd-1st B.C. centuries mixed coin hoards in the Lower-Danubian area and about the relative chronology of the later imitative Geto-Dacian coins.
This paper presents some recent findings from the archaeological excavations in the dava-settlement of Cârlomăneşti, Buzău county. As isolated pieces, two coins – imitations of Macedonian prototype, belonging to so-called “Vârteju-Bucureşti” (“mit Sattelkopfpferd”) and “Alexander the Great-Philip Arrhidaeus” types –, both dated in the 2nd-1st centuries B.C., were found nearly of a round unprinted piece of metal, perhaps a monetary blank. For this one, the XRF-analysis detected a composition of Cu 59,5%, Ag 31,3%, Sn 7,4%, Pb 0,7%, Au 0,25%. All of them came out from the last habitation level of the dava. Another “Vârteju” coin, till now considered lost, complements the recent published hoard of 124 such coins and proved to be the earliest one of these. Based on the appearance of the just mentioned “Vârteju” isolated coin struck with the same dies as other one found in the dava of Popeşti (Giurgiu county, on the lower valley of Argeş river), some considerations about the similar numismatic inventory from the two Dacian settlements, indicating a contemporary period of living, are also made.