Naslov
Numizmatički nalazi s Dragonere
(Numismatic finds from Dragonera)

Autori
Bekić, Luka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, stručni

Knjiga
Dragonera. Dva bisera. Two pearls

Urednik/ci
Starac, Alka

Izdavač
Arheološki muzej Istre

Grad
Pula

Godina
2010

Raspon stranica
279-291

ISBN
978-953-6153-65-3

Ključne riječi
Dragonera, Istra, novac, numizmatika, pojedinačni nalazi novca
(Dragonera, Istria, coins, numismatics, individual coin finds)

Sažetak
A total of 21 coins were unearthed during the excavation of a Roman villa at Dragonera. The majority of these coins belong to the Roman period, especially to its early stage from the period of Claudius to Antoninus Pius*. A few recurrent exemplars of smaller bronze coins from the 4th century were also discovered. A splendidly preserved solidus from the period of Constantius II, which was minted at Constantinople, and a half-follis from the period of Justinianus minted at Salona, stand out in particular. Three small coins were produced in Venetian and Austrian mints in the 17th and 18th centuries. The coins discussed here stem from protective archaeological excavations conducted at a Roman villa on a site called Dragonera, located in the vicinity of Fažana. The coins are in a particularly bad state due to the immediate vicinity of the sea and the saturation of the soil with salt. Earlier examples of Roman coins were commonly minted out of a quality copper alloy and are hence often discovered in a better state in comparison with subsequently minted exemplars. Copper alloy coins minted in modern times were completely deprived of their quality and it is therefore easy to discover 19th century coins that are in a much poorer state of preservation than similar coins from, let’s say, the 2nd century. And this is precisely the case on this site as well. Coins minted of more refined silver do not corrode nearly as much as the above mentioned coins, and coins made of gold practically not at all. We should therefore not be surprised on account of the exceptional preservation of a golden solidus that was discovered at Dragonera, which is in mint condition. Out of the 21 unearthed coins the majority stems from the Roman period. Although there are not enough coins at our disposal to provide data for more comprehensive collective analyses, it can be said that there is a noticeable quantity of earlier coins in relation to younger ones. In other words, on an average Roman site that was inhabited in the period from the 1st to the 4th century, the most commonly found coins are those from the period of Constantinus and his sons. This is a direct result of inflation and a monetary policy of minting huge quantities of coins of smaller nominal value. These are for the most part small copper coins that we mark Ae I – IV, which were minted in standard series as, for example, Gloria exercitus, Providentiae caess, Fel(icitas) temp(orum) reparatio, and so on. These coins did not have any special value and we can hence conclude that it was easy for people to loose or even discard them1. Consequently, the share of earlier coins in comparison with subsequent, younger ones on this site can be described as something that is out of the ordinary. Byzantine coins are rarer than Late Roman ones, and from a statistical point of view, the discovery of a half-follis from the period of Justinianus does not mean that this period is on the whole less represented on this site. Keeping in mind that we are dealing with a Roman villa, it is interesting to note the context of the three coins from the 17th and 18th centuries. Because they are not commonly found outside settlements that were inhabited in those times, the question of who brought them here instantly arises. As there are no structural remnants from that period on Dragonera, we can assume that they were lost by »stone thieves«, i.e. individuals that loaded dressed stones onto ships, to be used for construction purposes in their own settlements along the coast or elsewhere. We are not able to say more about geographical circulation, as the mints where these coins were struck are practically unknown. At the beginning, coins were minted almost exclusively at Rome, but we are not in a position to attribute later-date coins, such as these that were discovered at Dragonera, to any particular mints. Notwithstanding the very poor readability, we successfully »deciphered« a good portion of these coins, all of which will aid the creation of a better picture of this site. When defining these coins, standard methods of description and literature were used, the Ae I – IV nominal measurements were taken in accordance with Guido Bruck’s system, after his key work Die Spätrömische Kupferprägung 2. General information concerning emperors was taken from the book Die Römischen Kaiser 3.

Izvorni jezik
Hrvatski, engleski

Znanstvena područja
Arheologija

POVEZANOST RADA