COIN HOARDS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

About the research project

The Chalgrove Hoard Research Ashmolean

The Chalgrove Hoard

Thousands of coin hoards have been discovered throughout the geographical area that once constituted the Roman Empire. With new hoards discovered every year, there is a great need for a comprehensive and accessible online resource to unlock their potential to enhance our understanding of the Roman economy. The project documents hoards of all coinages in use between 30 BC and AD 400. Roman imperial coinage will form the main focus, but Iron-Age and Roman provincial coinages issued within this period will also be included to give a complete picture of the monetary systems of both the West and the East of the Roman Empire. The project is a joint initiative of the Ashmolean Museum and the Oxford Roman Economy Project.

Research aims

The project aims to provide the foundations for a systematic Empire-wide study of hoarding and to promote the integration of numismatic data into broader research on the Roman economy. Regular conferences will focus on the relevance of the data to different aspects of economic history including coin supply, circulation and use, however the project is not confined by this focus and gathers data on all aspects of coin hoards. The data will be relevant to a wide range of topics extending beyond monetary history to subjects as diverse as the study of imperial ideology and the cultural factors that influence the way coins are deposited. The project will fill a gap in the digital coverage of coin hoards from antiquity. It will provide linked open data that will contribute to a much wider initiative to promote digital numismatics. The success of the project depends on the efforts of our substantial body of collaborators around the world. The information gathered is being made freely available online for the benefit of the general public and the wider research community.


Project funders

The Augustus Foundation

 

Project start

September 2013

Project team

Professor Chris Howgego, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Professor Andrew Wilson, Oxford Roman Economy Project, University of Oxford
Dr Cristian Gazdac, University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dr Simon GlennAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Dr Marguerite Spoerri ButcherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Research Connections

This project involves collaboration with numerous organisations, individual scholars and graduate students. A full list of partnership institutions and individuals can be found within the collaborations section of the project website.  

Outputs

Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire online resource 

Project Conference 'Coin Hoarding in the Roman Empire', 15th–16th September 2016. Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, University of Oxford

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