A sixth-century tremissis from Psalmodi (Gard, France)

OFFPRINT AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NUMISMATICS 13 Second Series , THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY NEW YORK 2001 A JN Second Series 13 (2001) pp. 63-80 © 2002 Th e America n Numismatic Society A SIXTH-CENTURY TREMISSIS FROM PSALMODI (GARD, FRANCE) (PL AT E 6) SEB A STI A N H E ATH* AND D AVro YO ON* The Bene dic t ine mona stery a t P salmodi in Ga rd, Fran ce, is mo st prominentl y m arked b y t he sta nding sou th wall of t he t we lfth-ce n t u ry tri ple-aisle ch u rc h. No w t he site of a farm whose m ain pr oduct is flow ers fo r th e European m ark el , t he fir sl indications o f perm anen t occupation reveal ed by t he Williams College excavations co nd uc te d between 1970 a nd 1989 date to the middle of t he firth century ; only a few residual sher ds of the B ro nze Age, Iron Age , a nd ea rly t o mid R oman periods indi cate ea rlier us e of th e site . No cer t ain a rch itect ura l features su rv ive from the late a ntiq ue se ttleme n l but there is a b u ndan t, thou gh po orly st ra tifi ed , cera m ic ev ide nce in di ca ting t ha t t he inhabitan ts of Ps a lrnod i had read y access t o produ cls from th e m ain exporting regi ons of the Med ite rra nea n d uring t he la t e fifth and sixth ce nt uries A D . Psalrn odi is loc a ted between Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze a nd Aig uesMertes , o n t he edge of th e P etite Ca rna rg ue , t he western side of the Rhon e d elt a. Alt houg h now sever al kil ometers from t he sho re, in the Mid d le Age s a nd before it wo uld ha v e been o n a sma ll island with in a coasta l la goon , su bse q ue ntly filled by a lluv ia l sil ts, at the mouth of the * T he America n Numismatic Socie ty, Broadway a t 155th St reet, New Yor k, NY 10032, USA (heath@am numsoc.o rg; yoo n@am numsoc.org). 63 64 SEBASTIAN I-I EATII AN D DAVID YOON Vist re riv er . In thi s location, th e sit e was well pla ced for ac cess both to the interior and along the coas t, and profited from control of coastal resources (salt pans, in pa rticul ar) as well as land-based production in its hinterland. During th e sixth century , moreov er, this location was at th e margin between Visigothic Sep timania to th e west and Ostrogotbi c/ Frankish Proven ce to t he ea st. The exca vat ions a t Psalrnodi , ori ginall y directed a t th e tw elfthcentury abbey ch ur ch whose remains dominate the sit e, rev eal ed th e foundation s of a n earlier churc h und ern ea th , proba bly representing multipl e phases of Carolingian and Rornancsqu e da te (Dodds 1977; Dodds et a l. 1989). Around th e north ea st end of t his ea rly church, still ea rlier deposits were found , containing mos tly artifa cts of th e l'ifth and sixth cent ur ies AD. THE COIN In 1988 , durin g cleaning of an exc a va ti on fate from an ea rlier year in th e area of th e north aisl e of th e tw elfth­cen tury church (northeast of the ea rlier Carolin gian or Romanesque church) , a pseudo­imperial trernissis was found (catalogue number PS88 .102.11). AV Trerni ssis, 19 mrn , 1.49 g, 6:00 (Pi a te 6 no . 1). Obv.: B ust diad erned and draped r. See below for dis cussion of legend. Rev .: Victory adva nci ng r . holding palm br an ch a nd wr eath. See below for discussion of legend. The coin is well struck and cen tered on a thin Han . Th ere is some wear on high points and a few scratches a re pr esent near the edge. Some A SIXTH­C E NT URY TR EMI SSI S F RO M PS AL MODI 65 ANSAIIVS PP AVG, or the like. Other possible readings ha ve been publish ed based on two oth er coins stru ck from th e same die (see below). The AVGVSTORVM of th e rev ers e legend is tho roughl y blunder ed, with th e third to fifth le tters being t he most illegibl e: a n a pproxim ate reading of the legend would be VICTORIA IC*CACCA*. The legend in t he exerg ue on t he rev ers e is CONOB. The imperi al bust on th e obverse is relatively naturalisti c for thi s seri es, with a tall face, a n exa gge rated chin, loosel y dr awn dr ap ery that forms a distinctive hook sha pe on th e ch est, and an exa gge ra t ed round fibula. On the other hand, th e Victory on th e rev ers e shows som e tenden cy t owa rd deterioration into a bird­like or dragon­like cr eature: th e skirt has turned in to t wo streamers on th e right side, almost becoming new pair of legs, a nd a tail­like a ppe nda ge on th e left , and the wreath with th e ar m holding it res embles a small head with a long, t hick neck. At leas t two oth er published coins were struck from the same obverse a nd rev ers e dies: a coin in t he Cabine t des Medailles of the Bihliotheque Nationa le de France (Plate 6 no . 2; BN 236 ), publish ed as Leno rm an t (1853) pl. VII no. 8, Relfort (1894) no. 5 113, and Tomasini (1961) no . 122, a nd a not he r in Nimes (Pl ate 6 no . 3; N irnes 228) , publish ed as Arna ndry et al. (1989 ) no. 45 . All t hree are well struck and have good pr eservation of detail ; th e P salmodi coin is perhaps som ewhat less worn than t he other two. Th e am biguity of the lettering can be see n in th e div erse readings found in th e publications of th e other two exa m ples: MNANASINIZAIVC I VICTORIAICANACCV I CONOZ (Lenorm ant 1853: 3 11; Belfort 1894: 37), ONANASTAIVSPAVC I VICTORIAICIIIIIII CONOB (Tomasini 1964: 199), ON ANASTASIS PAVC I VICTORIA [ ]ACCA I CONOB (Lalaurie in Arna nd ry et al. 1989: 35) . a original lu ster a nd flow lines are preserved. The lettering is not entirely competent , allowing for som e a m biguity of reading. The obvers e legend is readabl e but blundered enough to allow diff erent int erpretationS. It is possibl e to in terpret th e legend as ON IVSTINI PP AVG, ON IVSTINS PP AVG, or ON IVSTINIS P AVG, referring to Justin I (518­ 527). The legend is continuous ov er th e top of the head of th e imperial bust, how ev er, which is normal on coins of Ariast asius (491­518) but not Justin. Th e sam e legend cou ld just as well be interpreted as ON ANASTINI PP AUG, ON ANISTIVS PP AVG, ON NUM I SMATI C CONTEXT P seudo­imperi al trernisses, produced by man y mints in sev eral kingdoms ove r a period of about a cent ury a nd II half, have been resistant to classifi cation du e to th eir div ersity an d la ck of ex plicit st a t em ent of mint or issuing au thority . In t he a bse nce of more ex plicit criteria , study has been based primarily on stylistic resemblances and rel ation- S EBASTI A N H E ATH AN D DAVI D YOO N 66 ships, suppleme nted where. possible by th e evide nce th a t hoard s provid e for date and prov enance . Some fairly clear general ca tegories ca n be defined on th e basis of reverse typ e: for exa mp le, th e Cross in Wrea th reverse is earl y and associa ted with the Visigoths a nd Suevian s, whereas the Victory with Globe and Cross rever se is associated with th e OsLrogoths and north ern Frankish regions (Tom asini 1961; Grierson a nd Blackburn 1986). The Victory with P alm a nd 'Wreath (VPW) t yp e, to whi ch the subject of t his articl e belongs, pres ents the most difficulties. It app ears to hav e been issued und er Ostrogothic, Visigothi c, Burgundian, a nd Frankish a uspices at th e least, in Italy, France, and the Iberian peninsula, for mu ch of th e duration of th e sixth cent ury. It occurs in a confusing welter of st ylistic vari ants for which the most detailed arra ngeme nt is that of Tom asini (1964); th e t ypes found in th e Iberian peninsula hav e also been classified by R einhart (1940-41). Th e VPW series is thou ght to hav e begun perh aps ar ound 509 with a group of tremisses attribu t ed by Wro th (1911) to th e Rome min t und er Th eod eric (Tomasini 1964; Grierson and B lackburn 1986: 35). Th e engra ving on this issue is close t o (or better than) th e st andard of imp erial issues, with minor differences such as some st ylization of t he drapery on t he obv erse bust, resulting in a somewhat mor e t wo-dime nsion al a ppea ra nce. As coins from thi s t rad it ion ca me to be copied in the mints of Gaul and Spain, various innovatio ns a ppea red . Th e rapid styli sti c evolution of thi s series suggests th at dies were generally cut usin g recent exa mples as models, rath er than being based on older or more st a ble exemplars. As a result, st ylisti c change tends t o tak e th e form of acc um ulati on of successive "muta ti ons" over tim e. Th erefor e, t he affiniti es of coin t ypes in t his series can be est ima ted acc ording to th e innovations that th ey shar e.' Th e coin from Ps alrnodi has several derived feat ures relative to t he presum ed ancestral type: apart from idiosyncrati c feat ures (such as t he 1 This simple pict ure could be comp lica t ed, of course , if a die-cu tter used t wo different coins as models Ior th e sa me die, as may often hav e occurred . It is eve n conceiva ble tha t th e obverse legend on the coin presented here could hav e resul ted from a ttempting t o copy tw o mod els, one in th e nam e of Anas tasius a nd one in th e nam e of Just in. A SIXTH-C E NTU R Y T HE i\Il S::>IS F RO M P SA L M ODI 67 hook-shap ed line in th e drap ery on th e obv ers e bus t), th e most notabl e is t he Victory on th e reverse, whos e flarin g skir t has turned int o streamers on th e righ t and a thi ck tail-like a ppe ndage on th e left. Th e blundered lettering may also be considere d a derived feature. On th e other hand , various other innovations th at occur on pseudo-imperial trernisses of the earl y sixth century are a bsent, such as a n elonga te d neck, simplifi ed delineation of the face, or a pectoral cross on th e obv erse and a mono gram or a "st ick-figure" rend erin g of th e Victory on the reverse. Tomasini attributes his no. 122 t o his group A6, which he considers to be prob ably Burgundian, on t he basis of styli stic resemblance lo group A5, which conta ins coins gen erally accep ted as Burgundian issues (1964: 96). How ev er, as La fa urie (1966) has poin ted ou t, it does not fit Tomasini's definition of the typ e. Although t he obverse ty pe is fairly close to the an cestral ty pe, like many Burgundian issues (as well as other early VPW t re misses that ar e not conside red to be Burgundian) , t he deriv ed features of t he re verse typ e ar e associate d primaril y with what is considered to be Visigothi c coina ge ra t her than what is thought to be Burgundian coinage (typi cally characterized by a simplified but clearl y drawn long skirt on th e Vic tory, for exa mple). This does not mean , however, t ha t th e coin was necessaril y minted und er Visigothic au spices. In fact, coins of t his general appear ance, with a conserv ative obverse and a moderately disto rted Victory on the revers e, hav e been attributed to th e F ranks by Lafaurie (1968, 1983: e.g., nos. 56- 60).2 How ever, considering th e frequ ently cha nging polit ical boundaries a nd weak administra t ive control typi cal of t his period, attribution to kingdoms may not be t he most useful approac h to classifying this series'. Bro ad region al groupings, as suggested by Grierson and Blackburn (1986: 110), ma y provide a mor e useful starting poin t for future progress. Regardl ess of who a uthorized th em , th e coins with conserva tive obv erse a nd mod era tely stylized Vict ory are clearl y associa ted wit h what is today sou thern F ran ce: for exa mple, a majority of such specimens in Belfor t (1894) are referen ced to Robert 2 Includin g t he one in Nirnes struc k from t he sam e dies as th e Psalrnodi coin (Ama ndry et al. 1989: no . 45) . 68 SEBASTIAN HEATH AND DAVID YOON (1879), a work devoted to coins that Robert believed to have been found in (or otherwise associated with) Languedoc. Not only attribution but also detailed study of the function and chronology of t hese coins is hampered by the lack of any known archaeological context for most examples and by the paucity of welldocumented hoards. The hoards that are most relevant by date and loca tion to the context of the coin described here are those of Roujan (e. 520, Herault: Dhenin and Landes 1994, 1995-96), Gourdon (c. 530, Saone-et-Loire: partially reconstructed in Lalaurie 1958) and AliscSainte-Heine (c. 550, Cots-d'Or: partially reconstructed in Lafaurie 1983), and Viviers (c. 570-80, Ardeche: Lafa urie and Morrisson 1987) and Var (c. 570-80, Var: Lafaurie and Morrisson 1987), both dated by Lafaurie to c. 570-80 but containing mostly earlier coins. The Roujan hoard, found between Beziers and Montpellier and dating to the reign of Justin I, contained twenty-four trernisses as well as four solidi. One of the trernisses is of distinctively Ostrogothic type (not VP'VV); of the remaining twenty-three, Dhenin attributes one in the name of Anastasius to the Visigoths, and of the others, all in the name of Justin, one to the Burgundians, nine to the Visigoths, and twelve to the Franks (Dhenin and Landes 1995-96). Although some of the specific attributions may be controversial, it is noteworthy that this hoard found in the heart of Visigothic Septimania included not only a Byzantine solidus and an Ostrogothic trernissis, but also a large number of tremisses that do not have the derived characteristics (pectoral cross, in particular) shared by most Visigothic tremisses minted in the name of Justin. In fact, several of the pieces are more conservative in design than the Psalmodi specimen, even though they were minted in the name of Justin. It is also noteworthy that this hoard, though probably formed early in Justin's short reign, is composed mostly of coins in the name of Justin rather than Anastasius, suggesting (if, as the diverse attributions suggest, the hoard was formed from circulating coinage) that the turnover of types in circulation was quite rapid. The Gourdon and Aliso-Sainte-Heine hoards, both found in Burgundy in the nineteenth century, dispersed without having been adequa tely recorded, and subsequently studied by Lafaurie (1958, 1983), present somewhat different patterns. The Gourdon hoard appears to A SIXTH­CENTURY TR EMISSIS FROM PSALMODI 69 have consisted mostly of coins from Burgundian sources, with a few others, such as two fifth-century East Roman solidi and a Frankish tremissis in the name of Justinian that was probably associated with this hoard (Lafaurie 1958: 64, 73-75). This suggests a circulation pattern with a greater emphasis on political boundaries. The AliseSainte-Reine hoard, on the other hand" is very diverse; the reconstructed portion includes significant numbers of coins attributed to the Visigoths and Burgundians and smaller numbers of Ostrogothi c and Imperial coins, in addition to the majority attributed to the Franks. Both the Gourdon hoard and the Alise-Sainte-Heine hoard contained a significant proportion of pseudo-imperial trernisscs in the name of Anastasius, even though they were later than the Roujan hoard. The Viviers hoard from the middle Rhone valley, composed mostly of solidi rather than tremisses, follows the same pattern as that of Alise-Sainte-Reine, with a mixture of imperial, Ostrogothic, Frankish, and Visigothie types, including many in the name of Anastasius and Justin I (as well as earlier imperial issues) in a hoard dating to the reign of Justin II (Lafaurie and Morrisson 1987: 77-80). A smaller hoard found somewhere in the Var is very similar in composition (Laf'aurie and Morrisson 1987: 75-76). It appears from the hoard evidence tha t tremisses circulated fairly freely, without much regard to political boundaries (too little is known about the Gourdon hoard for one to be certain that it contradicted this pattern). The preponderance of the evidence suggests that tremisses could remain in circulation for several decades during this time; the Houjan hoard appears to be exceptional, perhaps having been formed in a different manner. These conclusions add little to our knowledge about the trernissis from Psalmodi as an individual object: if coins of different origins circulated freely, there is little basis for attributing the Psalmodi piece to a particular kingdom, and if trernisses circulated for several decades, the relatively unworn condition of the coin is the only evidence suggesting deposition early in the sixth century. Nevertheless, by indicating the general patterns of circulation, the hoard evidence provides a valuable context for understanding what the functional significance of this artifact may have been. 70 S EBASTIAN HEATII A N O DAVID YOON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT As mentioned, the coin was found whil e cleaning off th e face of a n earli er exca va tion. It ca me from a layer (Context 88.102.26) that contain ed mostl y sixth­century artifa cts, but th e stratigraphic position of th e layer is directl y between a mid­six th­century pit a nd lhe floor pr ep aration for th e t welft h­ce nt ury churc h, so it could have been deposi ted th er e anytim e between those da t es. It is very unusual to find gold coin s as stray site fin ds; th eir valu e makes casua l loss or dis card highl y unlikely . Most sixt h­ce ntury trernisses are found in hoards or in gr aves; of the few ot her finds with docum ented provenien ces, most eit her lack strati graphic associa tions (Bon ifay et a l. 1998: 106) or a re thought to be from disturbed gr aves (L af aurie 1970) . The area in which the Psalmodi coin was found was used for burials from late antiquity to th e tw elfth cent ury and then was heavily disturbed by th e con structi on of th e ch urch in th e late tw elfth century. Th erefore it is possible that this coin was ori ginally deposited in a grave but was subsequently red eposi t ed by th e dig ging of a later grave or by const ruction activity . Th e possibility t hat it was found in a n intact sixth-centu ry deposi t should not be exclude d, t houg h; Goury (1997 ) has reported finding a trernis sis in the name of Anastasius in a pi t fill associated with refus e from craft produ ction and sixt h-ce nt u ry po ttery. ECONOMIC SIGNIFICA NCE Th e dis cov ery of this coin a t Psalmodi ma y hold considerable import a nce for th e econom ic status of the sit e a nd deserves furth er comm entary . T he interpretive weigh t which this piece can bear is, of course, lim ited by the rela tiv e lack of both material and t extual evide nce, bu t, as will be seen, th e t wo ca n be usefully combined a t Psalm odi, Amo ng the un certainties is the purchasing power of t he coin und er consider ation . Durliat has pointed ou t that an est at e o f 50 solidi is the genera lly accepte d lowest limit for a person to be con sider ed of means in th e lat e Rom an a nd ea rly medi ev al world (1990 : 297). Using A SIXTH-C E NT URY TREMISSIS FR OM P SA V VIODI 71 predominantly eastern evidence he ha s also esta blished broad price ranges for certain commodities (Du rlia t 1987 :345). For exa mp le, by Durliat's cal cul ations on e solidus (i.e., three tremi sses) could p ur chas e between 12 and 68 lit ers of olive oil depending on qu ality. F or the same amount on e could ac q uire 87 liters of win e suitabl e to serve to soldi ers or lesser bureau crats. The laws found in t he Visigothi c F orum Iudicum, issued in t he seven th century, also help to esta blish th e purchasing power of gold (e.g., Barr a l i Alt et 1976: 72- 74). Th e th eft of a cow is punishabl e by payment of t wo tremisses, th at of a calf onl y by on e. The narrative history of Greg ory of Tours a lso mak es occasion al refer en ce to th e ,use of gold coins in the la te sixth cen tury (St amm 1982/84). The Gallo-R oman a rist ocra t Murnmolus ex tr acted "rnulta nummismati a ur i milia" from Sa xon raid ers (HF 4.42). In a more specifi c referen ce, th e Syrian merch ant E ufronius offered 200 "a ureos" to th e same Mumrnolus so t ha t th e a ristocra t would not press his demands to see a relic in th e foreign er's poss ession (HF 7.31) . At the low end, Gregory relates that during the fam ine of 585 merchant s sold "medium annonae aut sernodium vini uno trian t e." (HF 7.45) Th ese numbers are not cit ed as direct evide nce of t he purchasing power of the Ps almodi trernissis but rather a s a rough indi cator. Any gold coin had considera ble value, but a tr emissis by its elf is in no wayan indicator of great wealth . Th e total supply of gold in th e region has also been roug hly assessed. Th e ca lcula tions of Depeyrot (1996: 29, 33- 35) show a de cr ease in total gold supply following a peak in th e lat e fourth century as well as decr easing relative share of that suppl y in th e western Medit err a nea n. His ca lculations for th e sixth a nd sev enth ce nt uries in France (1994: 96-102) show relative stability in tot al supply but at a dram ati cally redu ced level. These conclusions are com pleme nted by Ban aji 's study of sixth-century hoards (1996). Whil e it is true that de termining the purchasing power and supply of gold remains a largely qualitative ex er cise, eve n th e limi ted ext ent to whi ch t he problems ca n be approached indicates t ha t th e Psalrnodi pie ce ca n ind ica te the presence of some individuals of relative wealth a t th e settleme nt . E xpressing the purchasing power of this tre rnissis in te rms of oil a nd win e is useful because the cera m ic record at P salmodi makes clea r that 72 SE BASTIAN H E ATH AND D AVID YOO N th e six th ce ntury inh a bit ants had read y access t o both . The archaeological dep osit s conte m po ra neo us with th e coin a re distingui sh ed by the presen ce of imported a m phora she rds that would have ca rried oil a nd win e from North Afri ca and th e Easte rn Mediterranean , a nd for t he presence of imported coa rse wares a nd tabl e wares th at are furth er evid en ce of t he site's re la tive pr os peri t y and access to lon g-distan ce exc ha nge network s. The potter y from t he dep osit in whi ch the tremissis was found (P S88. 102.0 26) numb er ed only 37 she rds a nd includes substa n t ia lly later materi al. A sin gle partiall y pr eserved rim of a K ea y 62 a No rt h Africa n a m pho ra databl e to th e six th ce nt ury A D is nonetheless not abl e. A sixt h-ce nt u ry pi t filled with do mesti c refu se onl y a few meter s east of th e findsp ot of th e t rern issis did , how ever , pr odu ce a ce ra mic ass embl age large enoug h to help eluc ida te the eco nom ic circ umsta nce s of Ps alrn odi in th e sixth ce nt ury . Contexts PS88.102.024 and PS88 .102.028 form th e recorded po rtion s of a pi t tha t pr oduced a t otal of 262 she rd s weighing ju st und er 4 kilo gr am s. This pit is remarkabl e for th e diversity of imported cera m ics th a t it pr odu ced . Di scounting th e 16 residual a nd unid entifi ed she rds, impor ts m ak e up 52% of the deposit by she rd cou nt a n d full y 74. 8% by weigh t. The im bal an ce is ca used by th e relatively large size of the individual North Afri can a m phora sh erds, This is not th e venu e in whi ch to pr esent the ce ra m ics from this deposit in detail , but th e highli gh ts a re relevant. North Afri can p roducts are th e mo st com mon ce ra m ic impor ts in this pit and a mong six t h-ce n tury dep osit s at th e site ge ne ra lly. Africa n R ed-Slip , the most co m mo n category of fin e ware in th e W est ern Medi t erranean at thi s time, is represented by fo ur tee n she rds, including t h ree rim s whose ch ronolog ica l ran ges ove rla p in t he second half of th e sixth ce nt ury: a H a yes 91d flan ged bowl , a H a yes 104a plate, and a Hayes 87c plate. (H ay es 1972 , P y 1993) North Africa n a m pho ras a re presen t o nly as hody sh erd s, bu t t he sub st anti al numb er a nd weigh t-54 she rds a nd 2 .1 kilo grams resp ectively-indica t e the cont inue d im portation of food stuffs from t hat region during t he sixt h ce nt ury . Elsewhere at th e site , diagnosti c fra gm en ts of K ea y 55, K ea y 62, and K eay ()l a m phoras show tha t this was a regul ar fea t ure of t he eco nomy of th e site from the late fifth ce nt ury throu gh t he six t h a nd possibl y into th e sev enth (Keay 1998). r\ S IXT H-CENT U RY T R EMI SSI S FROM P SAL MO DI 73 In a dditio n to th e Nor th Africa n pr odu cts, whi ch a re com mo n a t man y sites in th e region , th e pit a lso pr oduced impor ts from t he E astern Mediter ran ean . While th ese a re well known in southe rn Fran ce, th ey a re not nearly so com mon as th e A fr ican pr odu cts , pa rti cularl y o n sm all er sites. The main ex port ing region s represented in P it 88.102.24/28 are t he Aegea n, th e Cilician coast of Asia Mino r, a nd a ncient P al estin e. F ro m th e Aegean come two ca tegories of vessel, th e glob ula r a m phora with groov ed upper bod y kn own as L ate R om an Am pho ra 2 a nd t he cooking pot kn own in F ra nce as Com-Me dii 5. Late Hom an Am phora I, prob abl y a produ ct of t he Cilic ia n coast a nd th e onl y import from ea ste rn Asia Mino r in this pit, is represented by on e rim a nd eleve n bod y sh erds. Lik e th e Aegea n materi al , t.he imported ce ra m ics from a nc ie nt Palestin e includ e b oth a m phora a nd coa rse ware forms. L ate Hom an Am phora 1 ca rried the win e for whi ch Gaz a was famous in La te Anti quity. It is widely ex po rted to t he west from t he four th throu gh se ve nth ce n turies a nd is represented in Pit P S88 .102 .24/28 by o ne base a nd seve n bod y sh erd s. L ess com mo n on 'W est ern Medi t erran ean sites is th e coa rse ware form kn own in Fra nce as Corn-Med it 4 . Pit PS 88.102.24/28 pr odu ced a rim /h andle as well as a bod y she rd of thi s form . T ak en by th em selv es im ported cer am ics a re a n un cer tain indi cator of wealth . Ther e should be no a priori as sump t ion t ha t A HS a nd t he imported win e a nd oil ca rried by th e a m phoras foun d on t he site a re luxury it ems, though sch olars have ce rta inly argu ed th at this is Lh e case (Le bec q 1997: 73). F or th e imported win e a L least th er e is writt en ev ide nce tha t ma t ches qui t e well with th e ce ra m ic record . Grego ry of Tours in his History of the Franks a nd his Glory of the Confesso rs re lates two episode s th at do sugge st that Gaz a win e was held in high es tee m. H e describes t he murder of a n out-of-fa vor royal officia l af te r he had sent his serva nts away to fetch win es, a mong t he m Ga za , whi ch he t houg ht would sea l his fri endship with th e kin g's e missa ry (H F 7.29). Gr egory also wri t es of a sixth-century wom an of sen atori al family wh o mak es [I regul a r donation of Gaza win e to th e Churc h of St. Ma ry in Lyon in mem ory of her dead husband (GC 64-65). Afte r one v isit a subd ea con repl a ces th e win e with vin egar, but t he switc h is ex pose d wh en th e piou s widow is mira culousl y visited by th e dea d man 's gho st. 74 S EB ASTIA N H E ATH A ND D AVID YOO N Th ese a nd other anecdotes suggest that imp orted wine did hav e a special st atus in th e society of sou th ern Fran ce; it could mark to asts of friendship a nd was the obje ct of th eft. Jt is imp ortant to note, how ever , that th e widow of Lyon ca me to church "semp er sextarium Gazeti vini pra ebens" . This indi cates that she did not hav e troub le acquiring it , or a t least tha t it seemed reasonable t o Gregory as narrator of th e story th at a pion s widow would have read y a ccess to one of the finest wines of th e time. 'W hile this small observ a tion of Gregory 's opens the door for assessing the relative valu e of imp orts in south ern France, it is th e arc hae ologica l eviden ce that makes th e point. Archae ologica l investi gation at urban sites and at smaller rural settle me nt s has shown th a t imported cera mics such as tho se found a t Psalmodi ar e common in south ern France but a re not uni versal. Marseille was th e larg est city in southern France at th is tim e a nd as such had ac cess to an even wider ran ge of imports th an found at Psalmodi. Throughout th e sixth century North Afr ica n a mphoras, table wares, and coarse wares conti nued to enter its port a nd ar c found in deposits throughout th e city . In contrast to th e abundan ce at Mars eille, th e sixt h century is not well represented at Nimes (Monteil 1999: 437-438), t he city closest to P salmodi. E xcavations on th e Ru e de Sauve and near th e P alais de .Jusl.ice revealed deposits tentatively da ted to th e six th century that cont a ined a small number of North Afri can amphoras and Iincwar es (Leenhardt ct al . 1993). Many rural sites hav e also prod uced substantial numbers of sixthcentury cerami c imports. Th e hilltop sit e of Saint-Blaise , near th e coast of th e Mediterran ean and approximately 20 km west of Marseille, ranked as a major settlement in the pr e-Roman period but saw only limited usc und er th e empire (Dernians d'Archimbaud 1994). In the fifth and six th centuries th e site sa w multiple periods of intense cons truction a nd occupation . Th ese were acc ompa nied by read y access to imported products from North Africa , Italy, and t he main ex port ing regions of th e Ea st ern Mediterr an ean. Indeed, in th e sixth cent ury African R ed-Slip mak es up a greater share of th e Iinewa re assemblage than at Mars eille. At Saint-Propi ce, another hill-top site, a bri ef occupation in t he late fifth or ea rly sixth century is typified by a larg e nu mber of African Red-Slip vessels-over 20 % of the t ota l fine ware assemblage-and a small number of easte rn Medite rra nea n products A SIXTH -C ENT U HY TRE lvIISS IS FROM- P S ALM ODI 75 (Boixad era 1987). Closer to Psalmodi, excava tions of t he late R oma n and ea rly medieval levels of th e small farm sit e at Dassargucs hav e reveal ed a relatively impoverish ed site in compa rison to Psalrnodi bu t one which in th e fifth and sixt h cent uries had acce ss to Africa n R edSlip as well as to Afri can and Eas tern Mediterran ean ampho ras (Garni er et al. 1995). In addition to thes e three secular sites, lVIag uelone provides a n import ant comp arison for Ps almodi . It is also a n insul ar sit e with late a ntiq ue origins th at develop ed into a substa ntia l religious est ablishment, which saw its greates t perio d of prosperity in th e eleve nth and twelfth centuries. A bishop is first record ed there in t he late sixth century, a nd recent exca vati ons in a mortuary churc h to th e east of the standing Roman esqu e str ucture have revealed th e pro speri ty of Lhe sit e in th e early Middle Ages (Marti n 1976; Pa ya 1996; Raynaud 2001 : 259). Th e limited cera mic informa tion available from ea rlier work shows th at th e sit e, like P sa lrnod i, had a t leas t som e ac cess to imported ceramics in th e sixth cen tury. Th ese four sites, th en , firml y show that imports are not unusual on rur al sit es in sou thern F ran ce. Indeed, this assessm ent is confirmed in t he growing num ber of regional surveys which now regul arl y emphasi ze t he economic dyn amism of th e post-Roman countryside (e.g., Ra ynaud 1996, 2001; Trem ent 2001) . Th e imported cera mic record is a clea r indi cator of this continued economic activity bu t OIl e th at diminished t owards t he end of th e cen tury. The distribution of region al wares, which is beyond th e scop e of t his ar ticle, sug gest t ha t this act ivity persisted, even if a t a redu ced level, into th e seventh cent ury (Lee nha rdt et a l. 1993). This very bri ef overvi ew of a few of th e well-published urb an a nd rural sites in sout hern France conte mpora neous with the Ps a lmodi tremissis is intend ed t o plac e th at site in its regional context. Ba lance is th e key here. Psalrnodi's pr eferential access t o imp orts in com pa rison to rural sites such as Dassargucs sugg esLs relative wealth, even though the presence of import s on oth er sites indi ca tes that Lhey ar e by no means unatta inable luxuri es. P salrn odi is a lso mark ed out by th e presen ce of th e tre missis. At the risk of maki ng a circul ar argume nt, th e exce ptiona l combinat ion of th e coin and its contempora ry cerami cs in a rural conte xt suggest a sit e of elevated wealth. 76 SEBASTIAN II E ATH A:-lD D A VID Y O ON B ecause t h is is one of th e few t re m isses foun d d uring excava tio n, t he Psa lmod i pi ece ca n no t by itself co ntr ib u te mu ch to our underst anding of t he circ ulation of t hese co ins. Thi s is p arti cul arl y tru e g ive n t hat it is lik ely tha t the coin was ori gin all y deposited in a burial a nd is not ev ide nce of purely eco no m ic usc . That sa id , th e discovery of thi s coin on a small rural sit e certa inly expa nds the ran ge of t his d enominati on, a s d oes t he ro ug h ly cont em po ra ry pi eee from t he Ca m p de Cesa r (Go ury 1997). Th e n ature of t he ea rly se ttl em ent a t P salrnodi is c u rre ntly un cert ain , bu t th e trernissis m a y pr ov id e a link to it s later hi story . Th e later d ocumen tary sou rces in di cate th at P salrnodi was a mon a stic esta b lish me nt by the la te seve nth ce n tury a nd t he re wa s a Carol in gi an chu rc h on th e island b y th e ninth ce n t u ry (Do d ds 1977; Dodds et a1. 1989) . It is un certain , howev er, at wh a t point th e site b ecame home to a n ex p lici t ly Ch r istia n co m m u n i ty. Y oung and Ca rte r-Y ou ng (1988) h av e previ ou sly sugges le d th a t t he mat erial e vid ence points to ea rly mon asti cism. This coin, toge the r with t he ce ra m ic ev idence, suggests a rel ati v el y wealth y site. L erins, the mo re fa mo us insular m on a ster y in easte rn Prov en ce, wa s t he recipient of substa ntia l aristocr a ti c patrona ge (K lings h irn 1994: 23), a n d th e ge nera l te nde ncy o f so uthe rn Gallic a ristoc ra ts to repli cat e th eir lu xurious lifestyl e in mon a sti c se ttings ha s bee n d isc uss ed by Van Dam (1993: Ch. 1). The co mb ine d ev ide nce of co in a n d ce ra m ics, th en , co uld h e taken eit he r a s evid e nce of a n ea rly sta rt for P salrn cdi's religi ou s life or a s an indi cator of a soc ia l a nd econo m ic co ntext tha t later co ntributed t o m on as ti c use . ACKN OW LEDGMENT S W e t ha nk J ean-Lou is F on cell e, th e cu rre n t owner of th e site , a nd Brooks Stodda rd, d irecto r o f t he William s College exc ava t ions at P salmodi , for t he op portu n ity to publi sh this co in. W e also th ank Ba iley Young for cla rify ing t he ci rc u ms ta nces a nd loc ation in whi ch it wa s found , the Musee Arc heo log iq uc H enri-Prad es in L attes for ph otograp hing it , a n d Miche l A ma nd ry for co nfi rm ing the di e-identity with the B ib lioth eque Natio na le specime ns a nd for g iv ing p ermissi on to reprodu ce im ages of the BN a n d Ni mes spec ime ns. A SI X T H-C E NT UHY TRE:\> lISS IS FHOM PSALMOD I 77 R E F E R E N CE S Amandry , M., CI. I3ren ot, M. 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