Speaker
Description
This paper will presentnew information about coins and coin hoards from the valley of the Middle Mesta River dating to the 5th - 4th century BC. We will present new archaeological and historical data based on the accurate analysis of alloy composition (in %) of the coins and the exact findspots of some of the coin finds.
The nondestructive technique of X-ray fluorescence was used to identify a wide range of elements including, precious metals.
The main purpose of the analyses is to determine silver content, the amount of other elements in the alloy, and their ratios. Statistical analysis of the data made in a unified database could reveal much of the missing information on the economic and technological aspects of ancient coin production, and on the sources of the raw material in the region.
