11–16 Sept 2022
University of Warsaw
Europe/Warsaw timezone

Session

S86. DIE STUDIES 1. 21ST CENTURY APPROACHES TO DIE STUDIES

S86
14 Sept 2022, 09:00
Auditorium Maximum - Hall C

Auditorium Maximum - Hall C

Conveners

S86. DIE STUDIES 1. 21ST CENTURY APPROACHES TO DIE STUDIES

  • Lucia Carbone (American Numismatic Society)

S86. DIE STUDIES 1. 21ST CENTURY APPROACHES TO DIE STUDIES

  • Lucia Carbone (American Numismatic Society)

Description

Org.: Lucia Carbone, Liv M. Yarrow, Caroline Carrier; chair Lucia Carbone

Since its inception over 150 years ago, die studies have become an essential part of the numismatists’ tool kit because they aid in two major ways: (A) to reconstruct striking processes at a mint, and (B) to quantify the number of dies used to strike an issue. The first is widely accepted; the latter remains partly controversial. Even those who accept that quantification is possible and useful bemoan the fact that die studies are so laborious that it would be impossible to complete enough die studies of large enough issues to say anything particularly meaningful about the ancient money supply, let alone the ancient economy. However, new technologies seem to provide new possibilities. While no computer-aided die study has been published yet, using machine vision or computer aided measurement akin to facial recognition to speed the die study process seems now within reach, as in the case of ANS-sponsored CADS. Cooperative approach and open access databases provide yet other possibilities. Indeed, over the last few years, three projects have aimed to put online die studies: the Roman Republican Die Project (ANS), the SILVER project for the Greek coins including the Roman period (ENS Lyon) and the Iron Age Coin in Britain (Oxford). The data of thousands of die studies will be made available online for the first time and this resource will grow with new publications. It is a new important step for numismatics and one that will open new research paths to ancient economy studies based on these big data and on interdisciplinary approach. This panel thus aims to explore these new approaches to die studies, showing in which way it could be possible –paraphrasing M. Crawford – to solve “the practical problem that counting all the dies used to strike would be the work of several lifetimes.” (M.H. Crawford, RRC, 641).

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