Mystery of Roman coins discovered on shipwreck island has archaeologists baffled

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Since the coins were minted in the second century, there has been a lot of time for someone, other than the ancient Romans, to have taken them there. I don't think that this is evidence that the Romans from that period were in this part of Europe at that time.

 

I think the wear on the coins could indicate that they were in circulation well after the period that they were minted. It is conceivable that they were carried there by Norse traders either sheltering or shipwrecked on the island. The Norse used all kinds of silver including silver jewelry fragments and ingots so it is conceivable that they would have used worn silver denarii as well.

 

When bank note reporters were advising banks about the coins they might receive over the counter, one illustration showed a Pine Tree Shilling, which had been issued a bit less than 200 years earlier. The advice was to accept them as 12 cents.

 

Look at the wear on those coins, they were probably used as trade pieces of value by Norse traders.

 

Trade between Rome and Scandinavia was not by sea but via the northern Limes. Slaves, furs and Baltic amber were exchanged for Roman luxury goods. While these northern tribes did not use coins as a medium of exchange, they would have found Roman coins attractive as both bullion and art objects.

 

Did those guys really have that much appreciation for art? I think of them as brutish barbarians who would have preferred a fine ax that was good for splitting heads open than a little piece of numismatic art.

 

Perhaps "prestige objects" would have been a better phrase. Thousands of Roman coins have been found in Scandinavia, often holed for suspension or worked into jewelry.

I wonder how many 2nd century Scandinavian farmers thought of the Romans as "brutish head-splitting barbarians"? More than a few, I suspect.

 

Interesting. I did not know that.

And yes, the Romans were brutal people when it came to preserving and expanding their empire. Ditto for the British and just about any other empire.

 

In addition, graves have been robbed and hoards stumbled upon ever since "precious" objects have become precious. Perhaps these coins were dug in Britian, Gaul or Germany before re-entering commerce as bullion in Medieval times. I am surprised that we don't see more archeological evidence of such things, but I guess most precious metals would have been melted down at some point. Marc Antony legionary denarii might have circulated into late Roman times due to silver quality, but you would guess that by the 6th or 7th century they would not be recognized as anything legitimate.

 

Just watched a Caesar type. Guessing when Rome attacked SW Greece. Then I went to bed