Speakers
Description
This paper focuses on the gold coins and bracteates excavated from the Shoroon Bumbagar tomb, Mongolia. Among these objects, we identify 16 imitations of Byzantine solidi, 7 imitations of Sasanian drachms and 8 gold bracteates with distinctly Central Asian features which attest rich cultural exchanges in Eurasian late antiquity. Past research (Thierry and Morrison, 1994; Raspopova, 1999; Naymark, 2001; Lin, 2003; Guo, 2020) has shed light on various aspects of this topic. The comparison of this group with other similar discoveries along the Silk Road furnished some new insight into the function, location of production, cultural implication and diffusion pattern of these imitations. We report on these findings in this paper. Based on the identity of the tomb’s owner and records in Chinese and Byzantine literature, we draw attention to the role of Western Turkic Khaganate and other nomads in the diffusion of imitations of Byzantine and Sasanian coins.
