When Money Talks
This book tells the story of numismatics, the study of coins, as part of the larger history of money. It explains why and where coinage was invented and how this monetary revolution spread around the world. By examining sources ranging from Aristotle and the Gospels to modern novels and TV sitcoms, this book highlights how historians, philosophers, poets, and religious leaders have used coinage to investigate, teach, and preach about human societies. It uses new ideas about memes and object agency to ask whether coins can act as though independent of human oversight. It details how numismatists have become more scientific since the Renaissance, although misuses of physiognomy and phrenology still hamper the field. Coins are studied not solely as individual works of art, but also as meaningful groups brought together as treasures called hoards. The analysis of buried hoards offers many interesting insights into human behavior, particularly in times of political turmoil and natural disaster. Although numismatics shares a common origin with archaeology, these disciplines have clashed in recent history, particularly over the disputed rights of amateurs to collect artifacts of historical importance. This book explores the ethics of coin collecting and considers whether paleontology might provide a model for the future of numismatics. New forms of numismatic investigation, such as Cognitive Numismatics, also pave a novel path for one of the oldest and most respected contributors to the arts and humanities.