Speaker
Description
Whether found in a purse attached at the belt or resting on different parts of the body, coins found in graves suggest rites and customs associated with burial. Like the clothing of the deceased, are coins a mark of social status? Local coins have been found alongside more exotic issues, what can we deduce from this? Did foreigners bury their own in the diocese of Lausanne, did the members of the local community choose coins then in circulation, or was there a deliberate selection of coins not used in daily trade to make an offering to the deceased? In this case, the deposit is no longer a price to be paid, a viaticum like the obolus to Charon, but becomes purely symbolic, as suggested by Roman coins present in a grave. The composition of the deposits in the places studied, their location in the burial site, and the historical context make it possible to examine the regional situation.
