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10
ForewordbyAleksanderBursche
success.Worsestill,therehavebeenattemptsbytheauthoritiestobarprofessional
archaeologistsfromusingmetaldetectors,whichinevitablyledtoamajorlossof
evidencesandcontexts.
Itisimportanttonotethatcoinsareaclassofsmallfindswhicharerecovered
mostfrequentlybyamateurs.Inthissituation,fromoneyeartothenext,therehas
beenadeepeningdisproportionintheleveloftheirrecording.Insomecountries,
sometimesinpartsofthesamecountry(GermanLänder),mostofthefindsthat
arerecordedcomefromamateurdiscoveries,withisinstarkcontrasttothevery
smallfractiontheymakeupinothercountries.Thishasledtoutterlyparadoxically
situationswherebywehavefromBritain,oneoftheleastprosperousofRoman
provinces,thelargestrecordonRomancoinsfromfindsper100km2.Thislack
ofcongruitymakesitdifficulttousesomestatisticaltoolswhenwewishtomake
quantitativeorcartographicanalysescoveringtheentireterritoryoftheRoman
Empire,reducingdramaticallythepotentialofcomparativestudiesandourgrasp
ofsocio-economicandpoliticalphenomenatakingplaceduringAntiquity.Similar
disproportionsareapparentintheterritoryoftheBarbaricum,forexamplewhen
wecomparetherecordfromDenmarkandSweden.ThecaseofPolandislikethat
ofSweden,wherebecauseofthelawinforceagreatmanyfindsmadebyamateur
metaldetectoristsfailtoreachacademiccirculation.
TheadmirablyconsistentresearchmadebyArkadiuszDymowskiaimsat
fillingthisacutegap,atleastwhenitcomestotheterritoryofPoland.Usingthe
potentialofferedbytheInternet,hewentontoamassanimpressivebodyofdata
onRomancoinfindsmadepost2000.Thisinformationhelpedtosubstantially
alterthecartographyofdiscoveries,whichpriortohisprojectwasareflection
ofthemapoftheterritoryofpartitionedPoland,showingthehighestdensityof
findsinthePrussiansector,thesmallestintheRussian.Moreover,A.Dymowski
decidedtoapplysomenovelstatisticaltoolsthat,tosomeextentatleast,mayhelp
toleveloutthedifferencesresultingfromthenon-uniformrecording.Last,and
mostadmirably,inspiteofneverhavingtakenauniversitycourseinarchaeology,
hehassucceededinmakingfulluseofthesignificanceofthearchaeological
contextofthecoinfinds,muchbetterthanmanyanarchaeologistconcernedwith
interpretingnumismaticfinds.
Inthisspirit,andusingthesemethods,A.Dymowskiembarkedonaproject
andresearchfinancedbytheNationalCentreofScienceaddressingtheelusive
questionoftheoccurrenceofRomanRepublicancoinfindsinEast-CentralEurope,
tothenorthoftheSudetesandtheCarpathians.Themostsalientfeatureofthis
projectisthat,sincethelaunchofthesestudiesin2014,thenumberoftheknown
findshadgrownatleasttwofold–whichisnoaccident,butmostlytothecredit
oftheAuthorandhisfellowresearcherstakingpartinthegrant.
Tosetthisfactwithinthepropercontext,wehavetoreturntothehistoryofthe
studyofRomanRepublicancoinfindsinPoland,recallingtheideasofT.Mommsen,
thefindsmadeatKalkriese,andtheBattleoftheTeutoburgerForest.In1810,
TadeuszCzacki,headoftheVolhyniaLyceuminKrzemieniec(nowKremenets,