DOI issue:
Artykuły/Articles
DOI article:Dymowski, Arkadiusz: The Problem of the Presence of Barbarian Imitations of Roman Imperial Denarii in the Lands of Present-Day Poland. An Attempt at a Balance
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57341#0158
ARKADIUSZ DYMOWSKI
156
Hungary, and Sweden imitations apart from hoards occur more frequently than
the data in the available publications would suggest. This hypothesis would seem to
be confirmed by the Danish situation. Ever since the finds of detectorists have been
recorded on a large scale, the proportion of imitations discovered in hoards and those
apart from them has begun to change in favor of the latter group. In Denmark - and,
also, in Bornholm - imitations are being recorded in greater and greater numbers in
areas in which settlements existed during the Roman era.34 Much the same is true
with regard to Poland, where three imitations were discovered here as a result of
archaeological investigations conducted with use of metal detectors in areas where
there were three different settlements of the Przeworsk culture (Cat. nos. 19, 34,40).
Unfortunately, we do not have more precise information at our disposal with regard
to the context in which these three coins were found. All of them were found outside
of dated archaeological layers. The situation in Ukraine and Moldova (but also in
western Russia) is fundamentally different. Taking into account the available data,
barely 1% of the imitative denarii discovered in these lands were part of hoards.
It needs to be emphasized that we do not have information about the context in which
the vast majority of the recorded imitations have been found; as a result, it may be that
imitations are present in hoards more frequently. Only one imitative denarius from
Ukraine definitely comes from a settlement - in this instance, of the Chernyakhiv
culture.35 The result is that with regard to Ukraine we need to count about 98% of
the imitations of Roman denarii from the era of the Flavian, Nerva-Antonine and
Severan dynasties as belonging to what are called stray finds without any context.
The fact that imitative denarii are found in much greater numbers in Ukraine - and,
to a lesser degree, in Moldova - than anywhere else as well as the fact that the vast
majority of these coins were probably not part of hoards indicates, first of all, that
the center of their production was located in Ukraine;36 second of all, this indicates
that the sphere and scale of their use in Ukraine (and, perhaps, in Moldova) was
different than in the lands of the Barbaricum located farther west and to the north.
I will return to this question later on in the article.
Of the 46 imitative denarii recorded in Polish finds and probably or certainly
imitating issues from the age of the Flavian and Nerva-Antonine dynasties (including
one denarius with an uncertain Polish provenance), it is possible to show that as many
as 20 have dies that are linked to other coins found in Poland or in other regions of
the former Barbaricum. Taking into account the fact that it was not possible to gain
34 EADEM 2010: 135-138.
35 NEKRASOVA 2006: 94. The coin was found on land where there once had been a settlement of
the Chemyakhov culture, in the village of Boromlya, in Sumy Oblast.
36 Cf. FORRER 1908: 131-134; BRAICHEVSKIJ 1959: 19; KUCZYŃSKI 1964: 140; DYMOWSKI
2019: 189.
156
Hungary, and Sweden imitations apart from hoards occur more frequently than
the data in the available publications would suggest. This hypothesis would seem to
be confirmed by the Danish situation. Ever since the finds of detectorists have been
recorded on a large scale, the proportion of imitations discovered in hoards and those
apart from them has begun to change in favor of the latter group. In Denmark - and,
also, in Bornholm - imitations are being recorded in greater and greater numbers in
areas in which settlements existed during the Roman era.34 Much the same is true
with regard to Poland, where three imitations were discovered here as a result of
archaeological investigations conducted with use of metal detectors in areas where
there were three different settlements of the Przeworsk culture (Cat. nos. 19, 34,40).
Unfortunately, we do not have more precise information at our disposal with regard
to the context in which these three coins were found. All of them were found outside
of dated archaeological layers. The situation in Ukraine and Moldova (but also in
western Russia) is fundamentally different. Taking into account the available data,
barely 1% of the imitative denarii discovered in these lands were part of hoards.
It needs to be emphasized that we do not have information about the context in which
the vast majority of the recorded imitations have been found; as a result, it may be that
imitations are present in hoards more frequently. Only one imitative denarius from
Ukraine definitely comes from a settlement - in this instance, of the Chernyakhiv
culture.35 The result is that with regard to Ukraine we need to count about 98% of
the imitations of Roman denarii from the era of the Flavian, Nerva-Antonine and
Severan dynasties as belonging to what are called stray finds without any context.
The fact that imitative denarii are found in much greater numbers in Ukraine - and,
to a lesser degree, in Moldova - than anywhere else as well as the fact that the vast
majority of these coins were probably not part of hoards indicates, first of all, that
the center of their production was located in Ukraine;36 second of all, this indicates
that the sphere and scale of their use in Ukraine (and, perhaps, in Moldova) was
different than in the lands of the Barbaricum located farther west and to the north.
I will return to this question later on in the article.
Of the 46 imitative denarii recorded in Polish finds and probably or certainly
imitating issues from the age of the Flavian and Nerva-Antonine dynasties (including
one denarius with an uncertain Polish provenance), it is possible to show that as many
as 20 have dies that are linked to other coins found in Poland or in other regions of
the former Barbaricum. Taking into account the fact that it was not possible to gain
34 EADEM 2010: 135-138.
35 NEKRASOVA 2006: 94. The coin was found on land where there once had been a settlement of
the Chemyakhov culture, in the village of Boromlya, in Sumy Oblast.
36 Cf. FORRER 1908: 131-134; BRAICHEVSKIJ 1959: 19; KUCZYŃSKI 1964: 140; DYMOWSKI
2019: 189.