Descoperirile monetare din aşezarea Dacică de la Brad

Abstract

Monetary Discoveries in the Dacian settlement from Brad

During the archaeological excavations from Brad 31 ancient coins have been found : 1 AE of the IVth c.B.C. (Histria?) ; 1 AE of the IIIrd — the Ist c.B.C. (?) (a North-Pontic one); 1 AR of Lysimach type issucd during Mithridates VI at Byzantion (70—60 B.C.); 5 AR Dacian (Virlcju-Bucurcști type); 14 AR Roman Republican (129 — 32/31 B.C.); 2 AR Augustus; 1 AE Nero ; 2 AR early Roman Imperial of the Ist c.A.D.; 1 plated coin (?) and 1 AE (colonial) early Roman Imperial; 2 AE unidentified (Dacians ?).
These monetary discoveries are concentrated in the last level, the fourth (20 copies = 64,51%) and the last but one level, the third (5 copies = 16,70%). We have also noticed that some more recent coins were found deeper, and some issues dated, from a numismatic point of view, from the IIIrd to the second half of the Ist c.B.C., appear in the last level (IV). So, after the numismatic analysis, the dating of some archaeological levels must be corrected. Therefore, the third level which was dated in the IInd —the Ist c.B.C., can be dated, as a consequencc of the numismatic redating, only in the sccond half of the Ist c.B.C.
The analysis above is also confirmed by the other discoveries in the settlements La Téne from Dacia. In these settlements a gap has been ascertained. It vas between the end of the IInd c. and the first half of the Ist c.B.C.
On the whole, we can appreciate that the monetary discoveries from Brad mean only an incipient stage of the monetary economy; at the same time one can moot the question of existence of a protourban settlement.
The monetary discoveries from Brad are described in the Catalogue A. In the Catalogue B some similar dîscoveries, coming from the surroundings of the ancient settlement are presented.