marches of armies durinc; the Seven \'ear's War 

 (1756 1763) were the source of main- of the treastires 

 found on German territory. Intricate 15yzainine and 

 especially Arab trade routes, confirmed h\- coin finds 

 which lead as far north as the Russian and Scandi- 

 navian territories, or the widespread commercial 

 transactions of the \'ikings arc onK- a few aspects of 

 the complex life of the Middle Ai^es w liicli have come 

 into fuller lisjht throusjh in\alual)le information drawn 

 from coin hoards.'' 



liinh tides, hea\\' rainfalls, an a.xe, or a plou^li, 

 |jy puvv accident, will unearth treasures whit h ha\e lain 

 for centuries or e\en milleniuuis within man's reach. 

 Very often, of coiuse, scientific. ill\ directed e.xc.iwi- 

 tions of historic sites yield coins alou',; with the 

 archeological finchnys. In numv instiUices these 

 coins ser\c to d.ite other artifacts of llie site, or, if the 

 case requires, the coins in turn cm lie dated wilii llie 

 help of objects alreadv dated. .Stuciies of coin finds 

 from archeological e-\ca\ations ha\c (if'ten resultecf 

 in valuable contriliutions to .incient numismatics. 

 An example of such, among manv, is tlie work done 

 in recent years Ijy a numlier of American scholars.''' 



The past eighteen years ha\'e prochiced, by a sur|)ris- 

 ing coincidence in separate locations, some of th<- 

 most extraordinary finds in ancient Greek coins. 

 Workmen engaged in modern construction on ilie site 

 of an ancient Greek sanctuarv in the litlie Sicilian 

 town of Gela found almost a thousand siKer coins. 

 1 liis hoard has proven to be one (jf tin' t;i'eatest ac- 

 cumulations of archaic Greek coins, containing an 

 impressive series of .some of the best examples of coin 

 art of the late 6th and early 5th centuries H.G. .\ few 

 years earlier, a hoard of .Sxracusan dek.idr.iclims — 

 gcnerallv considered the most beautiful Greek coins of 

 anticpiity — dating from the late 5th century B.C^, was 



15 I'or tfic Byzantine trade, see .\df.ls(in, Lii^lil ll'ivn/;/ S:ili,/i 

 and Byzntilim- Trade (1957) and '■Early Medieval Trade Rnntcs" 

 (IQfiO): Grierson "Commerce in the Dark .Ages"' (l'».S')). 

 For tlie Viliing period, see J.»iNKriHN. Ilmlliahii, nn Iltindihl'l.il- 

 der Wikuifiirzeit (1956); Lewis, The .Xnrllinti Sra^: Shipping niul 

 Commerce in .Korthern Europe. A.D. 3011-UlHI (l')5K). Tor more 

 bibliograpliiral information, sec BEROii.'^rs, "Die friilimitteiaf- 

 terfiehe Numismatik" (i961): R.xsmcsson, ".Scandinavian 

 Medieval .\iiinismaties" (1961). 



" See Bellinger. Culalngiie of Cmin i'miiid ,il Cuiuilh, I'I-j 

 (1930), Two Roman Hoardi fiiiiii Dm ,i-r-M>„p,n (19.il). The 1 hiid 

 and Fourth Dura Hoards (1932). '/he Si^/h. Serenlh and leiilh 

 Dura Hoards (1935). and The C.in- (19.)')); TiioMfsoN. 0.;«i 

 Jrom the Roman Throuah the Venetian Teimd (1954); C:ci.x. Conn 

 Jrom the Excavations at Curium. l'V)2-l<>53 (19.59); Bctthkv. 

 "The Morgantina Excavations and llie Date nf (h.- Knni.ui 

 Denarius" [in ms., to be publisiied]. 



chsco\cre(f in the bed of ;i sni.tli cicek in soutiiern 

 Si( ilv. .\ find in Tunis of ( !.n't!i,iL;ini.in one-;md-;i- 

 hall gold staters and ;i recent discoscry (jf l;n'g<.' siKcr 

 dekadrachms from (larthaye ni;ike tliese exceedinulv 

 rare coins — known tieiciofore from onlv ;i fi'w speci- 

 mens — accessible now to Jii.my collectors. The liovtoii 

 Fine .*\rts Museitm recently ac(|uired a hoarci of lifteen 

 late Roman ;iurei and fi\e i;old me(l;iliioiis Irum out- 

 of the most important finds of Ronum t;old coins in the 

 past few decades. SitnilarK', lite iKxirds of thous;mds 

 of X'enetian ducats coiitinu;illv lieim; fouiuf in tlie 

 Near East aflord incre;isiiig evidence to the histori.in 

 of the thri\-ing trade routes wliich oik e (omiected tiiis 

 Italian maritime republic \silli the Lewmt. 



In such wavs new \arieties ,ind e\-en new coin t\pes 

 and denoniiiKitioiis coiisl;mll\' .ippe.n-, slieddim; light 

 on the dim imai^e of cNents or miinunirius wliic h are 

 separated Ijy a lorn; s]);ice of time from our own 

 civilization. Unfortunatel\-, records of tlicse ho, nds 

 often are scattered or delifn'iateK- disioi led despite 

 the attem|)t of sclioLirs to register ali liiids as often 

 and as faithfully as possilile. 



The wide possibilities for numismatic rese;irch 

 opened up b\' expert iiucstin.ition (jf coin hoards, 

 recognized in tlie past liy such schokirs as Rrijr E. 

 Hildebrand or Kurt Regling, have led in recent rlec- 

 ailes to intensified work in this liefcL .Viimerous pub- 

 lications ha\(' ap|5e;ired in tlie posiw.ir period. I he 

 list of (jutstandinti Euro]3e.in scholars involved in tliis 

 research ranges widelv, from Sweden to Sp.iin. from 

 France to Russi.i, the countries bevoiid the lion 

 Cairtain participating actively in tlie effort, (aii- 

 rentlv, a new |irolilein Ikis arisen: to coordin.ile, on 

 an internatioiuil b;isis, ;jlf the efloiis ,iiid melliods of 

 this scientific investigation of coin lio.nds which h.is 

 been done separatelv bv the v.iiioiis n.ilion.il '.groups. 



.Some countries trv to solve the immense worklo.id 

 through ;i systeiiKitic sc;inninu; of afl tfic d,it;i ;iv,iif,ibfe. 

 Many [)ubfications in this aspect of researcli come 

 from: Cieriihiiiv, witii Munich ,is the center loi the 

 Roman lioaiib found in that ( oniilrv ,'■ .iiid I l.iiiibui '.;, 

 for the German c,il.ilo'_; of hoaiils buried .iller .\.l). 

 800; England, wliere J, lines D.ivid .\. Thompson 

 published ;in Iiintitniv nf /iiiliJi ( 'mii Ihuiith. A.I). iillO - 

 I'lttI) (\')^h): ;ind East Europe. m countries, where 

 Mrs. E. .Xohejiov c'l-i'i.'itov a in l'i.i'-;ue .iiiil .Mr. j.icek 



c .\ fomniission (fiieitecf f)V I'ml'. Kmn.id Isr.lfl lias lieen 

 preparing iii.mv ic-poils iiiulrr thi- g.n.i.il litlc Ihr l-mdmun.yn 

 der louinelien .~eit iti P, ul\elilaiid. of uhicli Iwo h.ivc l)ei-n pnb- 

 fislied: Kei LSI R. Olieihayein (I'K.di: I'u WKi , Rhetidand-Tjat.-: 

 vof. I, Rheiiihesun ff 96111. 



PAPER 32: NUMISM.XTICS .NN .ANCIENT SCIENCE 



