Abstract
Eighty-two coins were found during the 2018 excavations at a site located near the Church of St. John the Baptist, Kerch: 50 are Bosporan, 2 Roman, 18 Byzantine, one Italian, 2 Crimean 16th c., 4 Russian 18th‒20th cc., 4 unidentifiable. Strongly worn staters of Thothorses to Rhescuporis VI were circulated in the 6th–7th centuries together with synchronous Byzantine coins (those of Maurice, Heraclius, Justinian Ι, and Constans ΙΙ were retrieved in the excavation trench). No Byzantine coins came from the 8th–10th centuries. The second portion of Byzantine coins consists of the tenth-century issues (Constantine VII, Roman II, and Basil II). The mint of Cherson dominates. Of great interest is a rare denarius of Landulf of Conza struck in Salerno in 973. Couple akche of the 16th century Crimean khans are the latest coins in the collection. The isolated late Bosporan staters and medieval coins constitute a reliable numismatic profile for Bosporus (Kerch) — evidence of the coin circulation in the city and the region mainly from the fourth to the sixteenth century. The profile is similar to coins finds from a number of twen tiethcentury excavation areas around the Church of St. John the Baptist, and other including those of the Late Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods.
Keywords
Bosporus (Kerch), excavation 2018, Early Byzantine period, Ottoman period, excavation coins, currency.
Mikhail G. Abramzon, Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Vadim V. Mayko, Institute of Archaeology of Crimea, Russian Academy of Sciences, Simferopol, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Svetlana A. Kononova, Crimean Regional Center for Archaeological Research LLC, Simferopol, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Leonid Yu. Ponomarev, Institute of Archaeology of Crimea, Russian Academy of Sciences, Simferopol, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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