A HOARD OF PANTICAPAEAN THIRD-CENTURY BC COINS FROM VOLNA 1 SETTLEMENT (2017)

The paper is a publication of a purse discovered during the 2017 excavations at the Bosporan settlement of Volna 1 (Taman Peninsula), containing twenty-six Panticapaean bronze coins dated from the third century BC. Almost all the coins are restruck from the degraded Panticapaean bronze with 'beardless satyr / bow and arrow' type (Shelov, 1956. No. 66) and bear countermark 'a tripod'. Only a few pieces are minted on new blanks and are not countermarked. By the mid-3rd century BC, the type 'Apollo/eagle' also belongs, bearing the 'tripod' countermark. The latest coin in the hoard is the 'Poseidon/prow' type countermarked with a satyr's head, dating to ca. 250-225 BC and providing a terminus post quem for the concealment. The hoard belongs to a small group of hoards in which such coins are the latest. These hoards indicate the final stage of the monetary crisis on the Bosporus in the third century BC.