Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne (11.2016)

A DENARIUS OF TRAJAN FOUND...

were conducted under the direction of Małgorzata Byrska-Fudałi, M.A and Tomasz
Fudali M.A.
The excavations conducted in 2014 were concentrated on the part of
the settlement situated to the north of the space investigated by the Jagiellonian
University research team. As many as 186 archaeological objects were recovered
in the process. Among the relevant features, worth mentioning are the remains
of the dwelling constructions known as “semi-dugouts.” Larger dwelling structures
are accompanied by features of a lesser size, most likely pits used for utility and
storage purposes. Postholes make up the most prevalent group of archaeological
objects which excavators were able to find in the structures of the buildings. These
are probably traces of the posts supporting the walls and the roof structure.
The beginning of the existence of this part of the Przeworsk culture settlement
is datable to the finał segment of phase A3 of the younger pre-Roman period.
Among the artefacts of this period, the most interesting objects are broken pieces
of painted Celtic pottery, assumed to represent the so-called Tyniec group.
Earthenware forms a vast majority of the artefact materiał found in the settlement
area. An essential fact is that these are exclusively hand-crafted vessels with
forms typical of the Przeworsk culture of phases A3/B1-C1. The disappearance
of the settlement is indirectly determined by the absence of finds of earthenware
madę with the use of a potter’s wheel, commonly found at settlement sites
of the Przeworsk culture in the phase Clb of the Roman period.4 Along with
the pottery, a certain number of metal artefacts have also been recovered (thirteen
objects, in total), mainly remnants of awls, knives, a piece of an iron buckie, as
well as some unidentified objects, the most interesting of them being five fibulae
(three iron and two bronze ones) and the silver coin discussed in the present
text. The fibulae, which are sensitive chronology indicators, represent forms that
may be linked to the phases B1-B2 of the period of Roman influence (late forms
of group IV, in Almgren’s classification5) and to the beginning of the Cl phase of
the period of Roman influence (a bronze fibula from coiled wire with decorative
disks). Therefore, as based on the chronology of the discovered objects, it can
be determined that the settlement existed in the finał segment of phase A3 of the
younger pre-Roman period up to the beginning of the Cl phase of the Roman
period (from 30-10 BC until AD 200-230).
The coin, a very well preserved denarius of Trajan, was found in the filling of
semi-dugout no. 304. The rest of the artefact materiał from this particular location
is exclusively comprised of ceramic vessels, namely hand-made earthenware

4 RODZIŃSKA-NOWAK 2006: 181.
5 ALMGREN 1897: Group IV.