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Roman Coin Hoard
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Volume 49 Number 4, July/August 1996
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by Spencer P. M. Harrington
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Nine hundred Roman coins in a glass urn were recently uncovered during salvage excavations in advance of work on a highway junction between Caen and Bayeux in northern France. Made of a copper-silver alloy, the coins date to the third century A.D. Judging by the most recent emperor portrayed on them (Tetricus, ruled 271-274), they were probably buried ca. 270. According to Jacqueline Pilet-Lemière, a University of Caen archaeologist, "the hoard gives us important information on the circulation of money during the troubled third century A.D., when the Romans were attempting to resist barbarian incursions into Gaul." Also found nearby was a medieval graveyard.
© 1996 by the Archaeological Institute of America
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