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1.Introduction
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RepublicanissuesrecordedamongthefindsofancientcoinsfromEast-Central
EuropenorthoftheSudetesandtheCarpathians,atthepresentlevelofresearch
the‘rediscoveredculture’(or,tobemoreprecise,the‘recordedculture’)cannot
betakentoberepresentativeofalloftheRepublicancoinswhichcametorestin
thegroundduringAntiquity.17Despitetheseinconvenienceshowever,wehave
nobettersourceatpresentforthestudyoftheRomancoinagepresentinour
studyareaduringthelaterpre-RomanandearlyRomanperiods.Onthewhole,
exceptforthewrittenrecord,whichisverylimitedandnotentirelyexplicit,the
archaeologicalmaterialistheonlysourcethatwehave.
Inthechaptersthatfollowconsistentuseismadeofaclassificationofcoinfinds
intothreecategoriesmadeaccordingtotheircategory:hoards(coinsdiscovered
together,mostlikely,originallydeliberatelydepositedinthepastasagroup),single
finds(asinglecoinfromaparticularfind-site)andmultiplefinds(alsoknownin
thenumismaticliteratureas‘cumulative’finds,twoormorecoinsdiscoveredat
asmalldistancefromoneanother,butmostlikelynotdepositedtogetherandof
uncertainrelationshiptoeachother).Moreover,singleandmultiplefindshavebeen
treatedjointlyasstrayfinds,regardlessofthecircumstancesoftheirdiscovery,and
whetherthearchaeologicalcontextofthesefindsisknowntousornot.
Thebookpresentedhereisbothnumismaticandarchaeologicalinitssubject
matter,whichplacesitsomewhereontheborderbetweenthesetwodisciplines.
Evenatitsmostbasic,thearchaeologyofEast-CentralEuropenorthoftheSudetes
andtheCarpathiansofthepre-RomanperiodandtheRomanperiodisasubject
foreigntomostnumismatists.Ontheotherhand,manyarchaeologistsmaybe
unfamiliarwiththedetailsofRomannumismatichistory,whileforthehistorian,
boththenumismaticsandarchaeologymayposeaproblem.Inorderthereforeto
addresstheseconcerns,thenexttwochaptershavebeenwrittenasanintroduction
tothehistoryofthecoinageoftheRomanRepublicandtothepre-Romanand
theRomanperiodarchaeologyofthestudyregioncoveredbythisbook.This
approachshouldallowareaderlessversedinnumismaticsorinarchaeology,or
both,tobeabletofollowsomeoftheargumentsinthelaterpartofthisstudy
withouttheneedtogotootherpublicationsinordertoobtaintheinformation
essentialforthatpurpose.
passim),andweknowatpresentaboutthreesuchcoinsdiscoveredoutsidehoardsintheregionof
interesttous(seetheCalatogueoffinds).
17Cf.BurscheA.1996,pp.56-57;Dymowski2011a,p.28.
