Coin Finds from the excavations of the Late Antique fortification of the Roman colony of Deultum: archaeological campaign 2024

Published: 30.11.2025 Volume: 3/ Number: 2 Pages: 39-43 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. COIN FINDS FROM THE EXCAVATIONS OF THE LATE ANTIQUE FORTIFICATION OF THE ROMAN COLONY OF DEULTUM: ARCHAEOLOGICAL CAMPAIGN 2024 МОНЕТНИ НАХОДКИ ОТ РАЗКОПКИТЕ НА КЪСНОАНТИЧНАТА ФОРТИФИКАЦИЯ НА РИМСКАТА КОЛОНИЯ ДЕУЛТУМ: АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКА КАМПАНИЯ 2024 Г. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17765422 LILY GROZDANOVA ЛИЛИ ГРОЗДАНОВА https://bulgnj.com ISSN: 2815-4827 Coin Finds from the Excavations of the Late Antique Fortification of the Roman Colony of Deultum: Archaeological Campaign 2024 Lily GROZDANOVA Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” lily.grozdanov[email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-3942-9854 Монетни находки от разкопките на късноантичната фортификация на римската колония Деултум: археологическа кампания 2024 г. Лили ГРОЗДАНОВА Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“ lily.grozdanov[email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-3942-9854 Abstract: The publication is a short report on the numismatic finds from the excavations of sector “Late Antique Fortification” of Deultum conducted during the 2024 archaeological campaign. Keywords: Coin finds, Late Antique Fortification of Deultum, Identification of numismatic materials, Digitisation. The archaeological campaign in 2024, excavating the sector “Late Antique Fortification” of the Roman colony of Deultum, lasted 30 days within the months of October and November, with financial support from the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Sredets. The team of Prof. Dr. Lyudmil Vagalinski, which conducted the excavation onsite as well as the post-processing of the archaeological data and the excavated materials, consists of: Assist. Prof. Dr. (currently Assoc. Prof. Dr.) Lyuba Traykova (deputy director of the excavations, National Archaeological Institute with Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Krasimira Kostova (director of the Municipal History Museum – Sredets), Dobrina Harbalieva (Municipal History Museum – Sredets); Assist. Prof. Dr. Arch. Silva Sabkova (National Archaeological Institute with Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Assist. Prof. Dr. Lily Grozdanova (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; numismatic expertise) and Teodor Todorov (National Archaeological Institute with Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, PhD student, archaeozoology) (Вагалински, Трайкова, под печат). GROZDANOVA Coin Finds from the Excavations of the Late Antique Fortification of the Roman Colony of Deultum: Archaeological Campaign 2024 40 BulgNJ 3.2 (2025) During the archaeological campaign, a total of 85 coins were discovered. All numismatic materials can be classified as single finds. After the restoration, the numismatic materials were processed with the specialised quickPX-System.1 It is important to highlight that the archaeological site of Deultum is one of the few sites whose numismatic collection is being fully processed in accordance with the innovative requirements of Digital Numismatics, including FAIR2 and CARE3 principles and LOD standards. The digitisation4 is conducted within the framework of the project “Upgrading the Historical Narrative: From Deultum to DigiDeultum”, led by Prof. Lyudmil Vagalinski (Project № КП-06-Н80/7 from 08.12.2023, BNSF).5 Due to their poor state of preservation, 12 coins did not bear any traces of design or inscriptions that could aid in their identification and dating. In accordance with the reconstructed development of the excavated sector of Deultum, namely the late antique fortification (Vagalinski 2018, Vagalinski 2024), the prevailing quantity of coins with preserved dating markers is from the 4th century AD, and the period of the Dominate as a whole.6 1 http://www.quickpx.de/Home/Home_en.html#. 2 https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/ 3 https://www.gida-global.org/care 4 The equipment for the digitisation is provided by the Upgrading the Historical Narrative: From Deultum to DigiDeultum project, as well as by the partner projects “Measuring Ancient Thrace”, led by Assoc. Prof. Julia Tzvetkova (Project № КП-06-Н50/3 from 2020, funded by BNSF); “The Gluhite Kamani Research Project”, led by Assoc. Prof. Georgi Nekhrizov (Project № КП-06-Н80/6 from 2023, funded by BNSF) and Corpus Nummorum (DFG, BMBF). 5 https://digideultum.eu/ 6 Considering the specifics of the archaeological site of Deultum, the terms “Principate“ and “Dominate“ are used in the broader sense of their chronological scope, respectively Principate (27 BC–AD 284) and Dominate (284–641 AD). Fig. 1. Coin distribution by the excavated sections. GROZDANOVA Coin Finds from the Excavations of the Late Antique Fortification of the Roman Colony of Deultum: Archaeological Campaign 2024 41 BulgNJ 3.2 (2025) The period of the Principate is represented by 11 specimens, 6 of which allow for precise identification and dating, as follows: Hadrian (117–138) (1 coin, Roman imperial coinage, Rome)7; Lucius Verus (161–169) (1 coin, Roman imperial coinage, Rome)8; Macrinus (217–218) (1 coin, Roman imperial coinage, Rome)9; Severus Alexander (222–235) (1 coin, Roman provincial coinage, Deultum, Fig. 3)10; Maximinus Thrax (235–238) (1 coin, Roman provincial coinage, Deultum)11 and Maximus (236–238) (1 coin, Roman provincial coinage, Deultum)12. Out of the 62 coins from the Late Antiquity, 25 coins contain characteristics allowing more precise identification, as follows: Constantine I (306–337) (1 coin – Nicomedia,13 1 coin – Heraclea14); Helena (1 coin, no data for the issuing mint); Licinius (308–324) (2 coins, no data for the 7 https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_3(2).hdn.541-547 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 8 https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.m_aur.1293 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 9 https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.4.mcs.187 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 10 https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/coins/10343 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 11 https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/6/845 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 12 https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/coins/11903 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 13 https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.7.nic.23 (Last visited 24/11/2025). 14 https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.7.her.143 (Last visited 24/11/2025). Fig. 2. Chronological distribution. Fig. 3. Severus Alexander (222–235), Deultum. Av. Laureate bust of Severus Alexander, right, wearing cuirass and paludamentum. Border of dots. Rev. Founder as priest ploughing with two oxen, right. 26/28 mm, 7.3 g, 1h (Photo by Lily Grozdanova). GROZDANOVA Coin Finds from the Excavations of the Late Antique Fortification of the Roman Colony of Deultum: Archaeological Campaign 2024 42 BulgNJ 3.2 (2025) issuing mint); Constantine II (337–340) (3 coins, no data for the issuing mint); Constantius II (337 – 361) (4 coins, no data for the issuing mint); Valens (364–378) (1 coin, no data for the issuing mint); Valentinian II (375–392) (1 coin, no data for the issuing mint); Theodosius I (379–395) (2 coins in bad condition, no data for the issuing mint); Arcadius (395–408) (7 coins in bad condition, mostly containing no data for the issuing mint however, some specimens do bear marks indicating that they were minted in Constantinople and Heraclea); Justinian I (527–565) (1 coin, no data for the issuing mint) and Justin II (565–578) (1 coin, Constantinople).15 The reported data is based on the primary processing of the materials. In the course of the ongoing research, including within the DigiDeultum project (Grozdanova in print), on the numismatic materials of Deultum, the coin finds will be correlated with the numismatic materials recovered from the entire excavated area within the archaeological reserve, and with other recovered there historical sources. Hense, the initial data will be open for correction, and reinterpretation if necessary. Bibliography Grozdanova, L. in print. From Deultum to DigiDeultum: The Concept. – In: Vagalinski, L., Traykova, L., Boteva. D. (eds.), DEULTUM. Archaeological studies 2003-2023+ (= Archaeologia Bulgarica Supplements vol. 10). in print. Vagalinski, L. 2024. Archaeological Data on Cataclysms in the Roman Colony of Deultum in Southeastern Thrace (2nd – 6th century AD). – In: Vagalinski, L., Raycheva, M. (eds.). Proceedings of the Fourth International Roman and Late Antique Thrace Conference “Conflicts and Catastrophes in Roman and Late Antique Thrace”, Burgas, 12th – 16th October 2020) (= Bulletin of the National Archaeological Institute, Vol 50). Sofia, 2024, 37–58. Vagalinski, L. 2018. Chronology of Late Antique Fortifications of Deultum (archaeological data).  In: Vagalinski, L., Raycheva, M., Sharankov, N., Boteva, D. (eds.). Proceedings of the First International Roman and Late Antique Conference “Cities, Territories and Identities”, 15 https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3963977 (Last visited 24/11/2025). Fig. 4. Coin distribution during the period 4th – 6th century AD. GROZDANOVA Coin Finds from the Excavations of the Late Antique Fortification of the Roman Colony of Deultum: Archaeological Campaign 2024 43 BulgNJ 3.2 (2025) Plovdiv, 3rd  7th October, 2016 (= Bulletin of the National archaeological institute, Vol. 44). Sofia, 2018, 85–94. Вагалински, Л., Трайкова, Л. под печат. Късноантична фортификация на римската колония Деултум – Археологически открития и разкопки, под печат.