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10
ForewordbyAleksanderBursche
success.Worsestill,therehavebeenattemptsbytheauthoritiestobarprofessional
archaeologistsfromusingmetaldetectors,whichinevitablyledtoamajorlossof
evidencesandcontexts.
Itisimportanttonotethatcoinsareaclassofsmallndswhicharerecovered
mostfrequentlybyamateurs.Inthissituation,fromoneyeartothenext,therehas
beenadeepeningdisproportionintheleveloftheirrecording.Insomecountries,
sometimesinpartsofthesamecountry(GermanLänder),mostofthendsthat
arerecordedcomefromamateurdiscoveries,withisinstarkcontrasttothevery
smallfractiontheymakeupinothercountries.Thishasledtoutterlyparadoxically
situationswherebywehavefromBritain,oneoftheleastprosperousofRoman
provinces,thelargestrecordonRomancoinsfromndsper100km2.Thislack
ofcongruitymakesitdifculttousesomestatisticaltoolswhenwewishtomake
quantitativeorcartographicanalysescoveringtheentireterritoryoftheRoman
Empire,reducingdramaticallythepotentialofcomparativestudiesandourgrasp
ofsocio-economicandpoliticalphenomenatakingplaceduringAntiquity.Similar
disproportionsareapparentintheterritoryoftheBarbaricum,forexamplewhen
wecomparetherecordfromDenmarkandSweden.ThecaseofPolandislikethat
ofSweden,wherebecauseofthelawinforceagreatmanyndsmadebyamateur
metaldetectoristsfailtoreachacademiccirculation.
TheadmirablyconsistentresearchmadebyArkadiuszDymowskiaimsat
llingthisacutegap,atleastwhenitcomestotheterritoryofPoland.Usingthe
potentialofferedbytheInternet,hewentontoamassanimpressivebodyofdata
onRomancoinndsmadepost2000.Thisinformationhelpedtosubstantially
alterthecartographyofdiscoveries,whichpriortohisprojectwasareection
ofthemapoftheterritoryofpartitionedPoland,showingthehighestdensityof
ndsinthePrussiansector,thesmallestintheRussian.Moreover,A.Dymowski
decidedtoapplysomenovelstatisticaltoolsthat,tosomeextentatleast,mayhelp
toleveloutthedifferencesresultingfromthenon-uniformrecording.Last,and
mostadmirably,inspiteofneverhavingtakenauniversitycourseinarchaeology,
hehassucceededinmakingfulluseofthesignicanceofthearchaeological
contextofthecoinnds,muchbetterthanmanyanarchaeologistconcernedwith
interpretingnumismaticnds.
Inthisspirit,andusingthesemethods,A.Dymowskiembarkedonaproject
andresearchnancedbytheNationalCentreofScienceaddressingtheelusive
questionoftheoccurrenceofRomanRepublicancoinndsinEast-CentralEurope,
tothenorthoftheSudetesandtheCarpathians.Themostsalientfeatureofthis
projectisthat,sincethelaunchofthesestudiesin2014,thenumberoftheknown
ndshadgrownatleasttwofoldwhichisnoaccident,butmostlytothecredit
oftheAuthorandhisfellowresearcherstakingpartinthegrant.
Tosetthisfactwithinthepropercontext,wehavetoreturntothehistoryofthe
studyofRomanRepublicancoinndsinPoland,recallingtheideasofT.Mommsen,
thendsmadeatKalkriese,andtheBattleoftheTeutoburgerForest.In1810,
TadeuszCzacki,headoftheVolhyniaLyceuminKrzemieniec(nowKremenets,