Purece Silviu

The prosperity of the Dacian power centre of Buridava is closely connected to the salt deposits of the Ocnele Mari region. In the first century BC, Buridava underwent a period of profound transformations, marked, among others, by the presence of the denarius coin of the Roman republic. Along with the Roman denarius, drachmas were issued by the Adriatic cities, especially Dyrrhachium and Apollonia, which stand out in the monetary landscape of Dacia in the first century BC. Some original coins issued in Dyrrhachium and imitations were discovered at Buridava. Because those coins arrived in Dacia in close connection with Burebista's the rise to power, we can presume that the distribution of coin hoards and single finds is an indicator of political connections between the Dacian power centre and the local elites.

The salt deposits from Ocna Sibiului contributed to the birth of
some Roman settlements in this area. One of these, is the settlement from Ocna Sibiului – Fața Vacilor/La Făgădău, which belonged to the Norico-Pannonian settlers. In 2018 a wooden house was partially investigated during the excavations made in the section S 22, its research being finished in 2019 when a new section, S 24, was opened in the area. In S 24, on the house ground, a coin issued by Tiberius for Divus Augustus was found. In Dacia the majority of such coins are related with the first level of inhabitation, especially with Trajan’s reign. This archaeological find is a clue which may suggest that the beginning of this settlement and the arriving of the Norico-Pannonians here have to be placed in the time of Emperor Trajan.

In the collection of Valea Hârtibaciului Museum of Agnita is kept a group of coins issued by Dyrrhachium and discovered at Apoș. This lot contains 10 coins which can be part of the Apoș hoard, from which two lots, preserved in the Brukenthal National Museum's numismatic collection, were published. Taking in account all those groups, we can establish that, at least until now, we know 54 coins of this hoard. Like many others monetary deposits with Dyrrhachian coins found in Dacia, this one it is dominated by the coins of group V. It is very possible to have a hiding horizon in the southern Transylvania dated no long after the middle of the 1st century BC, probably created by the harsh political and military environment generated by the fall of Burebista's power.

The Jiblea hoard is of great importance from a historical perspective, being one of the most complex monetary deposits found on the territory of Romania. Unfortunately, a numismatic catalogue was never published, since the hoard has been split up, with some of the coins lost to private collections or housed in various museum. To recover some information regarding those coins, we tried to discover if any of them can be found in the Vâlcea County Museum collection, as some sources seem to indicate, even though no information is provided by the museum’s inventory register. After putting together all the available data, we managed to identify three coins from this hoard, belonging to three different types: Prundu-Jiblea, horseman with a bird, and Alexander the Great-Philip II. These coins, belonging to Jiblea hoard, are first from their type published with complete description and technical data.

The hoard lot contain 39 “Thasian type” tetradrachms and 6 imitations. Because of
the correspondence between dies we suppose that 4 of those imitations were being struck
in the same minting place. In the case of imitations we have many writing errors, letters
that were poorly copied after the “Thasian type” tetradrachms issued under the roman
control. In majority of cases the monogram is of type 6, after Prokopov typology.
Despite the fact that the discovery place is unknown, it is possible that this group of
coins to be part of the Cașolț hoard found in 1777. We think that the hiding moment of
this monetary deposit can be related with the one of Șieu-Odorhei hoard placed around
60 B.C. This low dating in concordance with the semnificative presence of imitations in
the hoard. It’s very possible that a hoard horizon to be created in the connection with
the expansion of Burebista’s power.

One of the most important hoard containing Celtic type coins, and discovered on the territory of Romania, was found at Tulghieș, Mireșu Mare Commune, Maramureș County in 1939. The importance of
this hoard consisted in its very complex composition, with rare and diverse coin types. Spectacular is, also, the adventure of the hoard’s coins, some of them traveled on large distances and generated interesting debates between scholars. A large amount of coins was brought to Vâlcea County, Copăceni lot, from which 4 coins are kept in the Vâlcea County Museum collection.

In the inventory created to register the archaeological and numismatic artefacts of Astra Association’s
Museum, document kept in nowadays at Brukenthal National Museum, some hoards were described. One
of them contains 16 coins issued by the Adriatic cities: Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, probably, in the first half
of the Ist century BC. Despite the problems found in the descriptions list we succeeded to correct them and
to determine the exact structure of the hoard. Unfortunately the mentions from the inventory are the only
information usable for scientific purpose, all the coins being lost.

The Marcus Aurelius' Marcomannic wars reshaped the Roman world. Their impact can be seen in every Danubian provinces, with evident consequences for many years after Marcus Aurelius' reign period. Because of the war damages and economic decline, in association with the plague spreading, provincial populace was under pressure. In this turbid context some events occur and can be observed in the field even in time of Marcus Aurelius' successor. The damage suffered by three Roman sites situated in South-Carpathian Dacia at Râmnicu Vâlcea, Stolniceni, Ocnița (all of them are in Vâlcea County), very close one and other, seems to be dated at the beginning of Commodus' reign period. Chronological data can be offered by the Râmnicu Vâlcea I hoard, of which hiding moment have to be place in that time. Although, in South-Carpathian Dacia a hoard horizon was formed in this historical context.

A Hoard with Drachmas Issued by Dyrrhachium and Apollonia from the Brukenthal National Museum Colection (Transylvania II) In the I st century BC large quantities of drachmas issued by the Adriatic cities: Dyrrhachium and Apollonia arrived in the Dacians' territories. Many hoards, containing this kind of coins, were discovered in Transylvania, some of them being preserved in regional museums'collections. Unfortunately, many hoards, recorded in the oldest collections don't preserved the discovery places because of the lack of interested for such detailes in the time when those pieces were collected. In this situation is, also, this hoard, named Transylvania II because of the large probability to being discovered in this region, which provide interesting information regarding the typological evolution of Dyrrhachium and Apollonia coins and complete the data regarding the presence of those coins north to the Danube.

The iconographical elements represented on coins made in Celtic tradition are closely related to the religious life and with the power symbols. Those elements can be transmitted in time and space, from one community to another. Following the trail of Larissa-Apollo Amphipolis type symbols distribution, we determined that the impact was very ample. Coin types as: Aninoasa-Dobrești, Rădulești-Hunedoara, Aiud-Cugir, Cladovo-Sachiz and Toc-Chereluș bear the mark of that Larissa-Apollo Amphipolis iconography. Symbolic elements have been from the Danube region to Transylvania.

In 1980 there were published 5 coins from a hoard discovered in 1945 at Goranu (now part of the Rm. Vâlcea municipality). Initially, the hoard contained around 300 pieces, with the exceptions of those 5 coins all other were unknown. Fortunately we discovered another 6 coins in a touristic guide dedicated to the Rm. Vâlcea city and in the numismatic collection of Vâlcea County Museum. After collecting this new informations, we enlarge the number of published coins to 11 and established a new ending year: 42 BC, four years later than the one indicated by the last coin of the first published lot.

A Roman Coin Hoard from Miceşti (Alba Iulia, Alba County) This paper presents a less common discovery made in the area of the ancient Roman city Apulum, a monetary hoard containing 5 denarii, issued in the 2 nd century AD. The hoard was found by an authorized metal detectorist and passed over to the judicial authorities. In this article we present the circumstances of the discovery, the morpho-geographic and legal conditions, followed by the description of the artifacts and the chronological interpretation of the coin hoard. Finally, starting from the known archeological and historical realities and from the area where the discovery place is located, near the road of the gold, we try to distinguish the historical reasons that made the presence of hoarding possible in that area. Bibliografia de specialitate legată de descoperirile de artefacte arheologice realizate prin utilizarea detectoarelor de metale a înregistrat o creştere exponenţială în ultimii ani. Din nefericire, în majoritatea cazurilor este vorba despre piese metalice, bunuri ce aparţin patrimoniului cultural naţional, recuperate pe calea investigaţiilor judiciare în cadrul unor dosare penale. 1 De aici şi o anumită atitudine firească de condamnare, de respingere a activităţii desfăşurate de către detectorişti, văzuţi ca persoane care s ă vârşesc mai multe infracţiuni, pe de o parte prin efectuarea de detecţii în areale în care chiar dacă nu a fost semnalat anterior un potenţial arheologic, acesta există, iar pe de altă parte prin decontextualizarea artefactelor într-o manieră de extragere neprofesionistă a acestora din starea lor in situ. Nu mai insistăm asupra cazurilor flagrante de infracţiune continuată, atunci când piesele astfel descoperite nu sunt predate, conform legii, entităților ce au ca responsabilitate preluarea acestora, făcând obiectul tăinuirii sau al traficării ilegale.

Abstract: In the autumn of the year 2011 was discovered a hoard containing 147 Dacian coins with the occasion of the arrangement of a fruit tree plantation in the Bondoci village (Vâlcea County), near the county road number 676. In the Vâlcea County Museum arrived 15 coins that can be attributed to the Aninoasa-Dobreşti (10 coins) and Adâncata-Mănăstirea (5 coins) types. For another 4 Aninoasa-Dobreşti coins we recovered the technical information.
The association between this two coin types can be observed just in two hoards: Gheboieni and Sadova. Taking in consideration the compositions of these two hoards, we can conclude that this Bondoci hoard contain the earliest Aninoasa-Dobrești coins in this combnation with Adâncata-Mănăsirea. Looking at the evolution of the Aninoasa-Dobrești coins we propose a new typological scheme divided in three phases, not two as in present: phase I - Aninoasa, phase II - Motoci and phase III - Dobrești. It is important to take in the consideration this new phase in which we have a high decrease of the artistic style in parallel with lowering weight and quality. After the discovery of this hoard we have a new argument to connect the beginning of first phase of Aninoasa-Dobrești type with the Nord-Estern part of Oltenia region, possible the region were thistype was created.

The salt deposits from Ocna Sibiului contributed to the birth of some Roman settlements in this area. One of these, is the settlement from Ocna Sibiului-Fața Vacilor, which belonged to the Norico-pannonian settlers. As a result of archaeological researches, some important discoveries have been made, as for instance, a pottery kiln, ornamentation and processing tools for pottery, a fragment from a traditional pot with inscription. All these discoveries prove that here used to function a workshop, which was specialised in the production of the typical pottery for Norico-pannonian communities.

The inventory register of the Brukenthal National Museum mentions, among the numbers 4552 and 4559, a small hoard made of two fragmented silver fibulae, five coins issued by the city of Dyrrhachium and one of bronze, not allocated to an issuer. According to the register, the hoard was discovered 3/4 kilometers from the village of Agârbiciu, at the point: Hinter dem Ramreg, by Ioan Bârsa, a village resident. The hoard was initially published by Kurt Horedt, but with some mistakes. After reviewing the existing information, it seems that the treasury contained the following coins:
1. Dyyrhachium - 1 ΠΥΡΒΑ / ΞΕΝΟΝ (-13); 1 ФIΛΛIA / ΞΕΝΟΝ (-10); 1 KAΛΛΩΝΟΣ / MENIΣKOΣ (-6); ΛΥΚΙΣΚΟΥ / MENIΣKOΣ (-4); 1 MENIΣΚΟΥ / ΦΙΛΟΝ (-3).
2. Roman imperial copper alloy coin, as or dupondius ?

In the Brukenthal National Museum’s collection were identified two
groups of drachmas, issued by the cities Apollonia and Dyrrhachium. One group,
containing 10 Dyrrhachium drachmas, have mentioned as discovery place the Apoș locality. It is possible to been part of a hoard from Apoș already published, although we can’t exclude the hypothesis that this coins to be part of another hoard found in the region of Apoș. The second group of coins was named, because we doesn’t know the exact discovery place, Transilvania I. This name was determined by the fact that almost entire collection, excepting the rare coins, contain discoveries from Transylvania region. This group is formed from 16 drachmas belonging to those two cities mentioned before. The
structure of this group is very interesting, because of the low presence of the coins issued by the monetary magistrate Meniskos.

The territory of the Sibiu County have a very strategically emplacement in the assembly of Transylvania, a region with an important presence of Dyrrhachium coins, for the I century BC. From the Sibiu County territory we know eight hoards containing coins minted by this city, but just four can be used for a detailed research.
Most of the coins are issued in the period between -8 and -4, the most important years being -5 and -4, with a very strong rising of the amount of coins by year. It is very possible that this two years to be in close relation with the Pompey's intention to create a strong force in the Balkan Peninsula to confront Caesar. For this, Pompey needed auxiliaries which are recruited, also, as the Dyrrhachium coins tell us, from the North of this region. The hoards from Sibiu County is possible to be hided after the fall of the Burebista’s power, in the context generated by the splitting of his territory between new Dacia political structures.

Salt has always been highly sought after, being used in various fields of human activity, which is why the salt trade in many parts of the world has had profound effects on communities on the road to trade. Such a case can be seen for the period between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century BC in the Lower Danube, where there was a constant flow of salt from the northern to the southern regions Danube. Here, the salt trade has contributed to the rapprochement of human societies, salt being one of the factors of political and economic change. The phenomena will be more and more perceptible, once the Romans have reached the Danube. The Roman presence in the south and then north of the river will stimulate the salt trade through increased consumption. The effects of trade can be seen even after the abandonment of Dacia in the period between the end of the third century and the invasion of the Huns, which has the same impact on the communities in the northern Danube. Responsible. In the Middle Ages, Ocnele Mari exploited the largest salt-works in Wallachia.

In the year 2009, after the collapse of some salt mine galleries, the Ocnele Mari authorities decided to build a dam
for retaining of the salt water. In this context was found a Roman archaeological site in the point named Downstream
from the Dam. In this place we think that there may have been the Roman administrative center of the salt mines from
the Ocnele Mari region. The most important building from this site was named L 12. It is a large stone building, 6,70 x
6,70 m, in which was found a large quantity and variety of roman objects. The coins found in the site are chronologically
placed from Nerva to Antoninus Pius. It is possible that the end of the coins presence to be in the connections with some
military events from the beginning of Commodus’ reign.

In 2015, during metal detecting activities, on a hill situated at about one
kilometer northwest from the eastern entrance in the village of Tălmăcel was found an ancient coin hoard.
The hoard was formed of 110 Dyrrhachium-issued drachms and was preserved in a small Dacian pot, with its upper part and handle missing. It is registered in the numismatic collection of the Brukenthal National Museum from Sibiu.

After the publishing of the Măldărești hoard, in which are some coin series unknown until now, we will try to reopen the discussion about the chronological evolution of the Celtic coin type: Larissa-Apollo Amphipolis. We identify two stages of evolution, seven phases and fourteen series. The series number 10 mark the limit between the stage 1 and 2, with this series the reverse was iconographical rebuilt. The coins of the last stage had a great influence on Aninoasa-Dobrești coins, the most important element taken was the line with three points, situated between two of the horse’s legs.

The hoard with Roman Republican and Dyrrhachian coins from Miercurea Sibiului was discovered during the preventive archaeological research conducted in the area of the future construction of the Orăștie - Sibiu Highway. The fortified settlement, in which was found, was named Miercurea Sibiului IV. This hoard contain 282 coins, 150 drachmas issued in the city Dyrrhachium and 132 Roman Republican denarii.

In National Brukenthal Museum's numismatic collection are kept 6 Dacian coins that were part of a hoard discovered at Măldărești, Vâlcea County. Half of the coins are Larissa type and two Prundu-Jiblea type. The last one can't be integrated in any known type. For the first time, we have an association between Larissa and Prundu-Jiblea types' coins and we established a stylistic evolution of the Larissa type coins.

In the Vâlcea County Museum's numismatic collection we succeeded to identify 19 roman imperial coins found during the archaeological researches at Buridava (Ocniţa, Vâlcea County). From the issuer repartition point of view we have the following situation: Augustus 8, Tiberius 1, Caius 2, Claudius 1, Vespasianus 3, Titus 1 and undetermined 3. Many coins are minted in time of Augustus, this aspect can be explained because of his long reign. Buridava's economic development touch a high level at the end of I st century BC and reach the peak at the end of the I st century AD, as the coins from the Flavian dynasty discovered here indicate, coins that close the roman imperial series.

The archaeological researches from Buridava (Ocniţa, Vâlcea County) have brought to light 40 roman republican coins: 24 isolated finds and 1 hoard with 16 coins. Of those 24 coins we found 18 in Vâlcea County Museum numismatic collection, despite the lack o information from inventory register. From a typological point of view 2 of them are from the second half of II century B.C., 9 from the first half of I century B.C. and 7 from the second half of I century B.C. Is very probable that many of the earliest issues were still in use in the second half of I century B.C., which is one of the most prosperous periods of Buridava's existence. Rezumat: Cercetările arheologice de la Buridava (Ocniţa, judeţul Vâlcea) au scos la lumină un număr de 40 de monede romane republicane: 24 descoperiri izolate şi 1 tezaur ce conţine 16 monede. Din cele 24 de monede am reuşit să găsim 18 în colecţia numismatică a Muzeului Judeţean Vâlcea, în ciuda lipsei de informaţii din registrul inventar. Din punct de vedere tipologic 2 dintre ele se încadrează în a doua jumătate a secolului II î. hr., 9 în prima jumătate a secolului I î. Hr. şi 7 în a doua jumătate a secolului II î. Hr. Este foarte probabil ca multe dintre emisiunile timpurii sa fie încă în uz în a doua jumătate a secolului I î. Hr., care este una dintre perioadele foarte prospere din existenţa Buridavei. Cuvinte cheie: Buridava, monede romane republicane, aşezare dacică, semne pe monede

In the Brukenthal Museum’s numismatic collection were registered 7 tetradrachms from a
hoard found at Izvoru Sadului (com. Râu Sadului, Sibiu County). Six coins from Izvou Sadului
hoard have incisions, which start from Herakles’ genital region and tend to reach the shoulders
line. We think that the penetration of the Thasos tetradrachmas in Transylvania was generated by
the tribes union present in Muntenia, between the Vedea and Ialomiţa rivers, who sold silver
imported from the south.

In the Vâlcea District Museum’s numismatic collection was registered an antoninianus
issued by emperor Allectus. Unfortunately, there aren’t any informations about the discovery place.
We think that the coin arrived on the Vâlcea District territory after the Constantius I’s victory,
when the roman soldiers, maybe some of them from the Balkan region, retreated from Britannia to
the initially garrisons. It is very possible that the coin to be spent by a soldier who worked at the
Diocletianus consolidation project of the Danubian limes.

After the actions launched by the Prosecuting magistracy of Alba Iulia and the Police Department for Heritage Protection, 91 coins were recovered from Sturdza Sergiu, who lives in Sarmiizegetusa, Hunedoara county. The locality is situated near Colonia Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, which was the capital of Roman Dacia. These coins can be grouped into three different categories: 72 Imperial denars, 13 Roman Republican denars and six Thasian tetradrachms. As far as the Police Department states, these coins are considered to come from a hoard. We can claim that the most recent coin was struck in Antoninus Pius' time.

The roman settlement is near to the Râmnicu Vâlcea city, 7 km south on Olt Valley. The development of the roman settlement was determined by his location, closed to the salt resources from Ocnele Mari. The salt was transported, from here, on the river Olt to the Danube. We study in these article 58 coins from Vâlcea County Museum discovered at Stoniceni between 1972 and 1987. Most of the pieces are issued until the beginning of the III-rd century A.D. and are linked with a very prosper period identified by the archaeological diggings (the beginning of the II-nd- the beginning of the III-rd).

We analyze the denars weight from 20 hoards discovered in Oltenia region. The hoards are: Barza (jud Gorj), Bălești (jud Gorj), Bârca II (jud. Dolj), Bârca III (jud Dolj), Bârca IV (jud. Dolj), Bumbești-Jiu I (jud Gorj), Bumbești-Jiu (jud. Gorj), Caracal (jud Olt), Dăbuleni (jud. Dolj), Drăgășani (jud. Valcea), Frâncești (jud. Valcea), Galicea Mare (jud. Dolj), Gruia (jud. Mehedinfi), Gura Padinii II (jud Olt), Leurda (jud  Gorj), Olteni (jud. Vâlcea), Preajba Mare (jud  Gorj), Râureni (jud  Valcea), Stănești (jud. Vâlcea), Strâmptu (jud. Gorj). The denars from this hoards have a total weight by 5619,51 g. The average is 3,06 g. We made weight  analyzes on  coins issued  for Septimius  Severus family members  and  on coins  types. In conclusion  we observe  that the weight average of  the denars found on the hoards discovered  in Oltenia region, is under the denar weight established after the Septimius Severus reform.

In present we develop a program to reorganize the numismatic collection of Vâlcea County Museum. We analyze the Museum archive to find information about the coins found in the collection. In the archive we discovered some interesting information about an unknown hoard found at the border between Slăviteşti and Băbeni territories. In the collection we have just 5 coins from this hoard who was supposed to have about 600 pieces. Taking into consideration the discoveries from Pădureţu and Frânceşti (Vâlcea County), hoards closed with coins issued by Elagabalus, we think that this new hoard is very probably to be hide in the time of this emperor. The region around Băbeni city is the only one were we found close hoards finished whit coins from Elagabalus. This new discovery came to sustain the possibility to have a hoards group hide in the Elagabalus reign period, maybe put in the connection with some local events unknown from the ancient texts.

The article present a hoard fragment, 10 roman imperial coins, who was part of a private collection from Drăgășani: Vespasianus 1, Antoninus Pius 1 (1 for Faustina I), Commodus 1, Septimius Severus 6  (1 for Iulia Domna and 3 for Caracalla) and Caracalla 1.

In this article we deal with two tetradrahmes discovered in Olt County. The first one is from Cârlogani and it is a Filip II imitation type. The second one is from Vãleni and it is a Macedonia Prima imitation type In the last part of the article we discussed about one Roman denary which was discovered in Cristian ( Sibiu County).

In the paper the authors deal with two series of coins that were discovered during the systematic excavations at Hunedoara in 2001. These archaeological researches are the result of the collaboration between „Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, The University of Ottawa and The Corvin's Castle Museum. The former series of coins comes from the Sacristy of the Corvin's Castle and it dates later than the latter, which was discovered in the Garden of the Castle. This thing points aut the fact that the excavations in the Sacristy were done later than
those in the Garden of the Castle.