Early medieval numismatics

Conclusions about the duration of participation in the circulation of the
coins from the 6th–7th centuries are presented by analysing the coin composition of the collective finds from the studied period. The results show that the life span of specimens from this period is 60–80 years, even up to 100 years, as other researchers have also concluded. However, it was established that the coins minted between 527 and 602 AD circulated for half this time (i.e. 30–60 years) and dropped out of circulation within the same period (ca. 602 to ca. 629 AD). This time coincides with some administrative reforms in the organisation of the
production of coins, but also with the production and distribution of an extremely large number of newly minted coins of gold, silver and bronze. These observations allow us to argue that, after 602 AD, a new monetary policy was formed in Byzantium, which had two main goals. Firstly, to increase the revenues from the production of coins and their subsequent
distribution (by increasing the volume of coins produced and putting them in circulation, which necessitated the withdrawal from circulation of the ‘old’ coins). And, secondly, to optimise the production costs (by overstriking old coins, reducing the volume of bronze coinage, closing of mints and concentrating the production in Constantinople).

Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages presents a cultural history of graphic signs and examines how they were employed to communicate secular and divine authority in the late antique Mediterranean and early medieval Europe. Visual materials such as the sign of the cross, christograms, monograms, and other such devices, are examined against the backdrop of the cultural, religious, and socio-political transition from the late Graeco-Roman world to that of medieval Europe.

This monograph is a synthetic study of graphic visual evidence from a wide range of material media that have rarely been studied collectively, including various mass-produced items and unique objects of art, architectural monuments and epigraphic inscriptions, as well as manuscripts and charters. This study promises to provide a timely reference tool for historians, art historians, archaeologists, epigraphists, manuscript scholars, and numismatists.

THEY GREW THEIR HAIR AND BEARDS LONG; in medieval Latin they were called reges criniti, the “long haired kings.” In modern French they are known as les rois fainéants, the “do-nothing kings” (history has not treated them kindly). The Frankish Merovingian dynasty, which ruled most of France and parts of neighboring lands from circa 457 to 751 CE, may be an obscure corner of late Antiquity but it offers numismatists a complex and challenging
coinage.

Content

AD GLORIAM 

S. V. Beletsky, N. I. Platonova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Anatoliy Nikolaevich Kirpichnikov. Life and Works17
L. M. Vseviov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
List of Scientific Works by A. N. Kirpichnikov27


WEAPONS AND MUNITIONS 

E. N. Nosov, N. V. Khvoshchinskaia (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Weapons from Rurikovo Gorodishche (excavations of 2011—2012)47
I. P. Vozny (Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
Shock Weapons during the 12th — Early 13th Centuries on the Territory of Northern Bukovina55
S. V. Beletsky (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
A Hatchet from Suzdal Opolye65
E. R. Mikhaylova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Rider and Horse Equipment of Pskov Long Barrow Culture73
S. Yu. Kainov, Yu. A. Kuleshov (Moscow, Russian Federation)
Battle Half-masks of Eastern Europe in Light of Recent Findings and New Research83
A. V. Kurbatov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
What Was Olstra According to Written Sources and Archaeological Evidence99


HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTIONS 

M. M. Kazanski (Paris, France)
Gelon with Falx: About Staftarms of the Great Migrations Period103
S. B. Sorochan (Kharkov, Ukraine)
Byzantine Military Forces in the Crimea in 6th—7th Centuries113
A. V. Fedoruk (Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
Artillery in the Great War of 1409—1411 (according to written sources and archaeological materials)133
V. L. Myts (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Armenian Community of Kaffa during the War with the Ottoman Turks in 1475149
P. E. Sorokin, V. N. Matveev, B. S. Korotkevich, K. A. Mikhailov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Assault on the Landskrona Fortress by Archaeological Data163


MONOGRAPH INSIDE THE JOURNAL 

V. P. Kirilko (Simferopol, Crimea)
Fortress Structures in the Medieval Alushta177


MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE 

G. G. Atanasov (Silistra, Bulgaria), N. D. Russev (Kishinev, Moldova)
Fortress Gate of the Early Byzantine Dorostol and the Medieval Drăstăr (6th—10th cc. AD)247
N. Yu. Skripinskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Yamburg Bastion System249
A. I. Saksa (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
The Old Cathedral in Vyborg — a Unique Object of Cultural Heritage261


SIGNS OF TIME 

M. V. Ivashchenko (Saratov, Russian Federation)
Ceramic Stamps from Chersonesos “Nymphaeum”273
L. S. Klejn (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation)
Rus’ in the System of Ethnonyms as a Clue to the Origin of the Term283
A. G. Shpilev (Kursk, Russian Federation)
Rings with Christian Symbols of the Late 10th — 17th cc. from Kursk Region287


TALENTS AND LEPTA OF THE ANTIQUITY 

E. Ya. Turovsky (Sevastopol, Crimea)
Monetary Business of Chersonesos: between Mithridates Eupator and Emperor Tiberius (63 BC — 37 AD)307
L. V. Nosova (Odessa, Ukraine)
Tyras in the Middle of the 1st Century AD: Political History by Numismatic Data315


HARD FLOWERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 

G. Yu. Starodubtsev (Kursk, Russian Federation)
Russian Coins in the Last Quarter of the 10th — first half of the 11th Centuries and Russian Monetary Circulation331
A. V. Crivenco (Tiraspol, Moldova)
Serbian Medieval Coins Found on the Territory between the Rivers Prut and Dniester341
N. A. Alekseienko (Sevastopol, Crimea), L. V. Dergaciova (Kishinev, Moldova), Ju. A. Tzepkov (Sevastopol, Crimea)
New Findings of Moldavian Coins From the South-Western Crimea349


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

List of Abbreviations361
Submissions365

Новая книга кандидата исторических наук, ведущего научного сотрудника сектора нумизматики Национального музея истории Украины –
Андрея Бойко-Гагарина
«ФАЛЬШИВОМОНЕТНИЧЕСТВО В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ И ВОСТОЧНОЙ ЕВРОПЕ В ЭПОХУ СРЕДНЕВЕКОВЬЯ И РАННЕГО НОВОГО ВРЕМЕНИ»
посвящена подделкам монет в ущерб денежному обращению. В работе изучены основные типы подделок монет, встречающихся в находках Центральной и Восточной Европы, анализируются причины появления фальсификатов, определена роль фальшивок в истории денежного обращения, локализированы потенциальные центры незаконного производства монет на территории современной Украины.
Киев, 2017. Тираж 400 шт.





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Finds of Chinese-type coins, often accompanied by forgeries and small copies of the Qing dynasty coins, occur in our time in the Far East, in the Amur River basin. In this article, was analyzed small copies of random finds from the right-bank tributary of the Amur River, the Sungari River, which made during 2015-2017. The detected regularity allow to put forward several hypotheses about the origin and destination of these types of coins.

Das Institut für Archäologie und Ethnologie der Akademie der  Wissenschaften veröffentlicht die neue Reihe Frühmittelalterliche  Münzfunde aus Polen, in der alle Schatz- und Einzelfunde des  Zeitraums 500–1150 veröffentlicht werden. Als erstes erschienen  ist der Band IV für Kleinpolen und Schlesien. 500 Seiten liefern  detaillierte Listen und Beschreibungen der Schätze, Münzen und  der Schmuckstücke: insgesamt 231 verzeichnete Funde, die  31.921 Objekte enthalten. Die Listen werden ergänzt durch  zahlreiche Abbildungen auf 78 Tafeln.  Das Buch kann bestellt werden beim IAE: http://www.iaepan.edu.pl  oder bei dem Buchladen Historische Bücher:  http://ksiazkihistoryczne.pl ISBN: 978-83-63760-19-9 PREIS: 50 PLN (ca. 17 Euro)

Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN prezentuje tom Inwentarzy  Polskich Skarbów Wczesnośredniowiecznych, w którym  zebrano  znaleziska skarbów i monet z lat 500–1150, z obszaru  Małopolski i Śląska. Na 500 stronach znajdują się szczegółowe  wykazy i opisy skarbów, monet i ozdób – łącznie zarejestrowano  231 znalezisk, zawierających 31 921 obiektów. Wykazy  uzupełnione są licznymi ilustracjami na 78 tablicach. Książkę można zamawiać w IAE PAN: http://www.iaepan.edu.pl oraz w Księgarni Historycznej: http://ksiazkihistoryczne.pl ISBN: 978-83-63760-19-9 CENA: 50 PLN

The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology presents the  Polish Early Medieval Hoards Inventories, bringing  together all the hoard and single finds (500–1150) in the  area of Lesser Poland and Silesia. At 500 pages the volume  provides detailed lists and descriptions of hoards, coins  and ornaments – a total of 231 registered finds, containing  31 921 objects. The lists are supplemented with  numerous illustrations on 78 plates. The book can be ordered from IAE PAN:  http://www.iaepan.edu.pl  or Historical Bookshop: http://ksiazkihistoryczne.pl  ISBN: 978-83-63760-19-9  PRICE: 50 PLN (approx. 17 Euro)

The catalogue shows a brought spectrum of the history of money. From Paper money issues, Orders and badges, Medals, coins and tokens.

For more informations:
https://www.leipziger-muenzhandlung.de/auktionen/
https://www.leipziger-muenzhandlung.de/en/auctions/

Catalogue of the Carolingian coins from Louis II to Berengar II with Adalbert the collection of Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoia, king of Italy, currently kept at the Museo Nazionale Romano.
This volume presents the coins formerly assigned to the mint of Milan, also including those that now can be attributed to other mints (e.g. Venice, Pavia, Verona, Saint-Martin de Tours, ...)

The catalogue shows a brought spectrum of the history of money. From Paper money issues, Orders and badges, Medals, coins and tokens. For more informations: https://www.leipziger-muenzhandlung.de/auktionen/ https://www.leipziger-muenzhandlung.de/en/auctions/

It is useful to break the question, concerning the origin of English Troy weight system, into four parts: What, Who, When and Why.  I judge we already have solutions to the first three parts, I outline them at length in this general account:  https://www.academia.edu/6882687

Briefly recapping, regarding What?, I judge this was solved in 1721 by George Hooper, and endorsed by John Arbuthnot in 1727.  They identify English troy as the Islamic (Kayl) system. 

Regarding Who?, in 1967 Skinner at the London Science Museum lodged strong and clear evidence in favour of an adoption of Islamic standards by Offa 757-96.

Regarding When?, numismatists have generally ignored Hooper, Arbuthnot and Skinner, but nevertheless offer us 792/3 for Offa’s crucial pennyweight (= half dirhem) reform.

Which brings us to the subject of this paper, and the final unanswered question:  Why would England, in 792/3, adopt an Oriental weight standard?  It is that problem I claim to solve in here. 

This paper represents a extension of my main 2019 coin metrology text, cited and linked above, and was published in Numismatics International January 2020 entitled Brexit, and Troy Weight (Pt. 1)

The phd thesis is based on an numismatic study of the Cross deniers, an anonymous coin group which abound in Western Slavic hoards from the second half of the 11th century. The Cross deniers aptly demonstrate the growing regional focus on coin use and the increasing awareness of coined silver and its value among the Slavic population in this period.

How was money used in early medieval times? Why did people accept silver coins as a common means of payment? How can we understand the beginnings of a monetary economy? To address these questions the author studies the relationship between monetary systems operating in the Saxon-Slavic borderlands between c. 965 and 1120.

It is argued that the use of money was organized and structured differently by the various authorities in the German Empire, creating separate "monetary systems". Several examples are given to demonstrate how monetary systems might indicate how the political and economical powers were organized, mirroring distinctive political and fiscal structures on a regional basis.

Monetary systems in the early Middle Ages should be regarded as efficient tools to control limited spaces as markets and towns. Monetisation can be viewed from two different angles: monetary systems reflect the power and agency of the coins issuers, while the composition of the hoards reveal the perspective of the coin and silver users.

In 2014, a group of detectorists  searching a terp near Wirdum in Friesland (Netherlands) discovered a hoard of nearly 100 Carolingian coins, most of Lothar I. The hoard sheds light onto the monetary economy of the 850s in the far north of the Frankish empire, and in particular the predominance of coins from the Dorestad mint. It also reveals the existence of a previously unknown coin type from Aachen during the reign of Lothar I. The chapter discusses similar temple coins of Aachen minted by Louis the Pious, also previously unknown.

The final period of the Visigoth Kingdom of Toledo is analyzed from the reign of Wamba in the context of his various attempts at strengthening the monarchy against other powers. This fact has its obvious reflection in the coinage, because unlike the previous period, it very consciously harks back to Byzantine models by iconographically adopting the imperial insignia of power, nevertheless, the very importance given to the ritual anointing of
royalty based on the biblical model is clearly pointing to the increasingly important role of the Church in the election of the king in a progressively weakened monarchy. Also, the later
years of regnum, the events that took place after the death of Witiza, are examined by contrasting the limited and problematic literary evidence with the information provided by
the coins of the time.

Сборник содержит материалы научной конференции, организованной Музеем истории денег АО «Гознак». Материалы, опубликованные в сборнике, посвящены актуальным вопросам российской нумизматики и бонистики: истории производства и обращения монет и банкнот, описанию и изучению кладов, истории формирования музейных коллекций. Книга богато иллюстрирована; многие изображения публикуются впервые. Сборник будет интересен музейным и научным работникам, историкам, нумизматам и бонистам, а также всем интересующимся историей экономики, культуры, техники России.

M. Bogucki 2016. "Intercultural relations of the inhabitants of Polish territory in the 9th and 10th centuries", in P. Urbańczyk, M. Trzeciecki (eds), "The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the early middle ages", vol. 5: 500 AD – 1000 AD, 223-276. Warsaw, The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences

The chapter discusses the influence the neighbours had on the population of
Poland in the period in question, as well as the impact exerted by the said communities.
The aim was to demonstrate the diverse cultural models that were
reaching Polish lands in the 9th and 10th century. This being said, the article
also emphasises the relative homogeneity of the local culture. Phenomena presented
in detail include the impact of the culture of the Avar, Great Moravia, Bohemia,
Hungary, Germany and Scandinavia. Considerable space is also devoted
to the functioning of ethnically foreign enclaves, particularly the small
group of Hungarians living in southern Poland and the slightly larger community
of Scandinavians settled near the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Significant aspects of the present chapter include tracing the more or less consequential
influences from abroad, as well as illustrating how strong an effect
the inhabitants of Poland had on their neighbours. Such tendencies are particularly
apparent in the development of settlements and Slavic influences in Scandinavia
and in the impact of Slavs on the politics and culture of Arab states. It
has been determined that in the 9th and 10th century Slavs hailing from the river
basins of the Vistula and the Oder were more than unresisting slaves whom
‘Vikings’ sold for Arab gold. There is much evidence to suggest that it was the
Piasts themselves who sold their closest neighbours into slavery, investing the
acquired means into developing the structures of the state. Known data also
indicates that Polish warriors sought service at the courts of foreign rulers, e.g.
Harald Bluetooth.
The cultural interaction of the inhabitants of the Vistula and Oder
basin involved communication, commercial exchange, migration
and travel. The examples discussed in the present chapter clearly
suggest that the inhabitants of early-mediaeval Poland played an
active role in the transformations affecting European communities
in the second half of the first millennium AD.

This is a review of an article “For the Flag of the United Georgian Kingdom” by Ts. Gvaberidze  in which the author assumes that a cross with four dots in four quarters, found on a number of Georgian coins, is a depiction of the United Georgian Kingdom’s flag. I argue that it is methodologically erroneous to restrict oneself to the analysis of coins struck exclusively in Georgia. Examples of medieval, non-Georgian coins and other material evidences of a Cross with four dots in the four quarters are given, as well as the variation of the cross type on Georgian coins (sometimes Greek and sometimes Latin one) is noted and the conclusion of Ts. Gvaberidze is rejected. Symbolic meaning of the use of this type of cross is explained. A new explanation suggested by the same author for the sign found on the coins of Queen Tamar and David, and on some other Georgian medieval coins, as a flagpole finial is criticized.

David Francès ens continuarà sorprenent agradablement. Als elogis que li he dedicat abans cal afegir-ne un com a colofó. Ha buscat sempre la col·laboració dels col·legues interessats en el seu tema, i ha pogut debatre, compartir opinions, dubtes i idees amb experts com Rafael Arroyo o Ramón Rodríguez Pérez, o amb molts afeccionats provinents dels fòrums virtuals, o amb un gran Sebastián Gaspariño. I aquesta actitud és, en un sentit pràctic, el més gran dels elogis. X. S. A. LE GOFF, Jacques. La Edad Media y el dinero: Ensayo de antropología histórica, Akal, Madrid, 2012 (título original: Le Moyen Âge et l'argent. Essai d'anthropologie historique, 2010).