Les monnaies de fouille du monde grec (VIe-Ier s. a.C.). Apports, approches et méthodes

This book provides an overview of recent finds of coins in excavations in the eastern Mediterranean region, including those in the well-publicised underwater excavations off the Nile Delta in Egypt and from the royal sites of Macedonia in Greece. A large part of this material is as yet unpublished. The aim of the authors is first and foremost methodological: excavation coins are principally lost coins, often of low value or not acceptable (withdrawn from circulation, altered or forgeries). The traditional objective of the study of such coins has been to provide chronological indicators to excavators, to enrich the classification of numismatic material, or to study circulation. In fact, they offer many other possibilities for research (the study of periods of circulation and demonetisation, of monetary habits, of economic and social history, etc.), whether they are found in groups or individually, when they can be located in an archaeological context, alongside other artefacts, particularly ceramics.