The New Type of the Olbian Copper Coin from the Time of Mithridates Eupator

All Olbian coins from the time of Mithridates Eupator that have been known and described in scientific and reference numismatic literature are anepigraphic in nature and it is difficult to date them clearly. The small copper coin of Apollo Gorytos type, which we found in one of the Ukrainian collections, has an alpha-shape monogram with broken gasta, to the right from Apollo’s head. This coin allows us to suggest a possible dating of these coins. We believe that coins with A (alpha) monogram could have been minted in 105 BC, in the year of Apollo in Olbia, that is, several years after the city became part of the Kingdom of Pontus.

X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS AND THE X-RAY SPECTRAL MICROANALYSIS OF LATE BOSPORAN STATERS FROM THE PHANAGORIAN AND GAI-KODZOR HOARDS: TECHNICAL ASPECTS AND POSSIBLE COPPER ORE SOURCES

Боспорские статеры 285/286-341/342 гг. н. э. подверглись исследованию методами рентгенофлуоресцентного анализа (РФА) и рентгеноспектрального микроанализа (РСМА) в сканирующем электронном микроскопе (СЭМ) с целью определения химического состава сплава и возможных источников медного сырья для чеканки монет. Установлено, что на боспорском монетном дворе применялась широкая номенклатура медных сплавов: медь, свинцовая, оловянная, оловянно-свинцовая и многокомпонентная бронзы, а также сплавы меди с добавками серебра. В условиях дефицита чистой меди на монетном дворе использовался медный лом, содержащий другие цветные металлы. Археометрические исследования позволяют проследить по годам эмиссий динамику деградации сплавов статеров, вызванную высокими темпами инфляции в правление Фофорса - Рескупорида VI. «Порча» медной монеты вызвана напряженными поисками государством финансов для борьбы с варварами. Полученные данные проливают новый свет на малоизвестные особенности монетного производства позднего Боспора. The Bosporan staters of AD 285/286-341/342 were investigated at their surfaces by X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) and at the cross-sections by X-ray spectral microanalysis in the scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDXMA) in order to determine the chemical composition of the alloy and proposal sources of copper raw materials for coin production. It is established that the Bosporan mint used a wide range of copper alloys: copper, lead-, tin-, tin-lead and multicomponent bronzes, as well as copper alloys with silver additives. When there was a deficit of pure copper, the mint used copper scrap containing other non-ferrous metals. Archaeometric studies allow us to trace the dynamics of degradation of coinage alloys over the years of emissions caused by high rates of inflation during the reign of Thothorses to Rhescuporis VI. The ‘damage' of the copper coin is caused by the state's intense search for money to fight the barbarians. The obtained data shed new light on a little-known feature of the Later Bosporan Kingdom coin production.

THE BUSHARINO HILLFORT ON THE SETUN RIVER AND ITS RESOURCE AREA

В статье представлены результаты новых работ на городище Бушарино в Московской области и результаты палеоботанических исследований в его ближайших окрестностях. Удалось уточнить датировку находок на городище, скорректировать атрибуцию римской медной монеты, найденной еще в 1957 г., снять высокоточный план памятника, который относится к особому типу трехвальных городищ, не адаптированных к рельефу. Выявлены некоторые расхождения в хронологии массового материала (III в. до н. э. - III в. н. э.) и даты римской монеты (IV в.). Изучение погребенных почв под древнерусским курганом в 2 км от городища и отложений торфа в ближайшем болоте (1,5 км) позволило установить, что эти участки прошли через несколько циклов подсечного земледелия в I тыс. до н. э. - первых веках н. э., таким образом удалось достоверно зафиксировать следы земледельческой активности железного века. The paper presents results of recent studies at the Busharino hillfort in the Moscow region as well as results of paleobotanical studies in its vicinities. The chronology of finds originating from the hillfort was specified, the attribution of the Roman copper coin found back in 1957 was clarified. A high precision plan of the site was performed. The site is attributed to a special type of three-rampart hillforts not adapted to the terrain. Some discrepancies in the chronology of mass finds (3 century BC - 3 century AD) and the date of the Roman coin (4 century AD) were identified. The study of buried soils under the Medieval Russia kurgans situated two kilometers away from the hillfort as well as peat deposits in the nearest marsh (1,5 km) were undertaken. These made it possible to establish that these areas had gone through several slash-and-burn agricultural cycles in I mill. BC - first centuries AD providing, therefore, reliable evidence of agricultural activities.

Coating Metals with Zinc and Method for Measuring the Thickness of the Layer

When a copper coin is immersed with zinc into a solution of a zinc salt (ZnSO4, ZnCl2 etc.) an electrochemical eaction occurs in the mixture. As a result, a thin layer of zinc appears on the surface of the copper which gives the impression for silver color. The purposes of this project are: to explain the phenomenon and to investigate relevant parameters; to measure the thickness of the zinc layer; to determine which metals can be covered with zinc in such experiments. Method for measuring the thickness of the zinc layer was obtained by using dimension properties of the coin – radius, height and mass. The advantage of this method is the fact that it can be applied for all metals whose form has an integrable volume. The thickness of the layer was determined to be in the order of 1 . The relationship between the thickness of the zinc and the time at which the coin has spent in the solution was also studied and an exponential tendency was observed. It was proved that only metals after hydrogen in the Reactivity series can be plated with zinc with this setup.

One of the ‘New City’ (Shahr Al-Jadid) Copper Coin Types: Reading the Obverse Legend

The article deals with two particular topics of Juchid numismatics. The author examines the legend written in Arabic letters on the obverse of copper coins struck at Shahr al-Jadid, a town once located on the site of nowadays’ Old Orhei settlement (Moldova). Researchers use to attribute the coinage of this type to the final stage of Juchid presence in the region (second half of the 1360s). Silver coins of that period, save for the latest issues (AH 769–770), bear the name of Khan ʿAbd Allah (1363–1370). As for copper coins, all belonging to the same undated type, those were long considered anonymous. Early in the 2000s the Romanian numismatist Eugen Nicolae suggested to see on them the Turkic name ﻗﺘﻠﻐﺒﻮﻏﺎ Kutluğboğa, implying certain graphic errors in the coin inscriptions. On the basis of written sources researchers use to associate this name with one of the Juchid Khan’s regional governors, a dignitary who took part in negotiations with Venice in the middle of 1340–1350 and later also in the battle against the Lithuanian prince Olgerd’s army at Sinie Vody (‘Blue Waters’) in 1362. Two completely different reading versions of the same coin inscription have induced the author to carry out a study aimed at clarifying the real spelling and translation of the obverse legend. In the course of joint work with colleagues (Vladimir Nastich), the author has come to the conclusion that Eugen Nicolae’s reading of the obverse legend on the copper coins in question is critically erroneous and the proposed reading of the legend as the name Kutluğboğa is impossible, which is confirmed by a detailed analysis of the arabographic legend, accompanying with high quality photos of clearer samples. The author has succeeded to reaffirm the reading of the legend proposed by Svetlana Yanina in 1977. Vladimir Nastich offered a refined translation of the cited expression as “glorious [is] who is moderate”. Other types of Juchid copper coins of the late 14th century containing the same legend were also found. A similar dictum was detected as part of a more complete saying on a copper coin of the Qajar dynasty (Rasht, AH 1229 / 1813–1814 [Zeno numismatic database, #9077]). All this has led the author to transferring his search from numismatics to Islamic texts. As a result, the cited saying has been found among the Hadith ascribed to Prophet Muhammad. Spelling, transcription and translation of the expression look like this: ﻋﺰ ﻣﻦ ﻗﻨﻊ ﻭذل ﻣﻦ طمع ʿazza man qanaʿa wa-d̠alla man ṭamaʿa “glorious [is] who is moderate, and despicable [is] who is greedy”. The result of the described work can be outlined in several paragraphs: The legend on the ‘New City’ copper coin obverse is not Turkic as per Eugen Nicolae, just Arabic. Instead of whatever name, it contains the first part of the saying ﻋﺰ ﻣﻦ ﻗﻨﻊ ʿazza man qanaʿa “glorious [is] who is moderate”. The cited saying is present within the set of Hadith allegedly uttered by Prophet Muhammad. Thus, the question of correctness of its reading and translation can be considered settled and closed. The text of Hadith has been fixed on a Juchid coin for the first time. The use of part of the Hadith in the design of a mass coin issued in Eastern Europe before the withdrawal of the Juchids requires special attention and further study. The article should be interesting to historians and numismatists studying the history of Juchi Ulus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the earliest history of the Moldavian principality, Islamic numismatics, and also to all those who are curious about the given topic.

Instead of Introduction: How Old Is Sacredness?

It is customary that references to history are used to legitimise one’s ideological and religious statements. This method is particularly visible in contemporary pagan and spiritual movements, in which history has a crucial position not only in justifications of religious claims but also in searching inspiration for contemporary beliefs and for providing a structural framework for (re)constructing past religions. The commonest explanation for using history in arguments and rhetoric in religion is to add credibility to one’s claims. Examples can be found in traditional institutional religious organisations, in contemporary spiritual movements, but also in the rhetoric of individual charismatic leaders. Such rhetorical manner is not common to contemporary religions only but can also be followed in historical folk religion (see, e.g., Johanson 2018). For instance, in a record of a heavily worn eighteenth-century copper coin, used for healing magic in the early twentieth century, the old age of the coin is specifically valued.

Numismatic Rarities of Ancient Chersonese: a Dichalkos from The Late-Third Century BC Featuring the Name of Matrodoros

Numismatics of ancient Chersonese comprises a big number of silver and copper coin issues. The variety of scenes on the coinage from the period of autonomy resembles the list of known names of officials featured on the coins as those responsible for the city’s mintage. In some cases, the names of mint-makers are abbreviated, which makes the deciphering complicated. In this regard, let us call the attention to an issue of the dichalkoi of Chersonese from the second half of the third century BC featuring Herakles’ head right / bull butting left, with the official’s name “MATP,” always in shortened form. Recently there appeared a coin from the series in question with a more detailed version of the official’s name abbreviated as “МАТРОΔ,” which certainly supposed the name of “Matrodoros.” In the epigraphic inscriptions on ceramic ware from Chersonese, particularly among the local amphorae stamps, there is a name of astynomos Matrodoros son of Lysippos dated from the last third of the third century BC. From the coincidence of this name which rarely occurred in Chersonese with specific numismatic type and the chronology of the stamps there are reasons to infer that this case is related to works of the same official of Chersonese, an archon, who consequently held positions of astynomos and then mint-maker in the polis government. If it was the case, the low chronological frame of the stamps on Chersonesan amphorae showing the name of Matrodoros was close to the time when he became the mint-maker. Therefore, the chronology of the coins in question should be close to the last decade of the third century BC.

Iron Age of Cis-Olkhon Region in the 1st Millennium AD (Based on Materials from Sagan-Zaba 2 Site)

For the first time in the Baikal region, at the multilayered site Sagan-Zaba 2 (the western coast of Lake Baikal), it was possible to distinguish several layers of different periods of the Iron Age (upper 3–1 cultural layers) in clear stratigraphic conditions. The criteria for identifying the cultural complexes were their stratigraphic position, morpho-typological features of the inventory, and a comparative analysis with the materials of burial and memorial objects of the studied epoch. Particular attention is paid to the issues of chronometry based on a series of AMS radiocarbon dates. Based on interdisciplinary research, the age of the upper layer 3 (with Yelga pottery type) was determined in the range of 1980–1530 cal BP (1st –4th centuries AD). We can clarify the dating of this complex to the 1st century AD, considering the find of a fragment of Chinese copper coin Dàquán wǔshí (in use in China from 9 to 14 AD), that probably was transferred from this layer to the overlying one. Judging by radiocarbon dating, there are no obvious chronological differences between layer 2 (1180– 940 cal BP) and layer 1 (1240–960 cal BP). Nevertheless, given the presence in the materials of layer 2, along with pottery decorated with an arched ornament and a horseshoe-shaped stamp, vessels of the Cherenkhyn pottery type, it is possible to expand the dating of this complex and define it as the period of the 5th–10th centuries AD. The complex of layer 1 (only with pottery with an arched ornament and a horseshoe-shaped stamp) is attributed to the 8th–10th centuries AD. Planigraphic analysis suggests that the sites had a limited range of activities and were used for a relatively short time. The complex use of natural resources throughout the Iron Age is noted. The economic structure of the population of the Olkhon region in the 1st millennium AD was based on cattle breeding, hunting for wild animals and, to a lesser extent, on fishing. The predominance of seal bones in the Sagan-Zaba 2 suggests a specialized nature of the sites aimed at the prey of this animal. As a result of studies carried out at the Sagan-Zaba 2 site, it became possible to characterize the cultural complexes of different periods of the Cis-Olkhon region during the Iron Age not only by the burial and ritual complexes, but also by the materials of the settlements.