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Ancient History podcasts

Philippa Walton — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:56:43 +0000

I know it’s not directly related to numismatics but I’ve just found that you can download ancient history lecture podcasts from UC Berkeley at Itunes. And they’re free! I’m currently virtually attending lecture course 106b on the Roman Empire given by Isabelle Pafford and I’m impressed. I never thought I could learn as much about Octavian and the 2nd Triumvirate on the Northern Line!

If you’re interested, it also appears to be available here:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/History/Ancient-and-Medieval-History/The-Roman-Empire-Podcast/25981

Coins in Utrecht

Philippa Walton — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:41:03 +0000

I’ve just got back from the ICOMON* conference in Utrecht where I gave a short paper about the potential of the Portable Antiquities Scheme Roman coin data. Despite sudden nerves nearly getting the better of me when I stood up to talk and realised the assembled audience knew an awful lot about Roman coins, the paper seemed to go down ok – well, no one said what I was doing was a waste of time! It was all part of an interesting session exploring the different databases used to record site finds and hoard coins throughout Europe. Unsurprisingly, there are a quite lot of them, although none are as developed and as useful as the PAS database and not all are accessible online. At the moment, it would be a struggle to do similar research to mine in other European countries so I count myself rather lucky.

Other highlights of the conference included watching Euros being minted, hearing of another riverine Roman deposit (this time in Verona) which might be a good parallel for Piercebridge in County Durham and eating my way through 500 Euro chocolate bank notes..Yum.

*ICOMON = The International Committee for Money and Banking Museums

[slideshare id=709133&doc=utrechtlecture-1225463487439600-8&w=425]

The Satyricon

Philippa Walton — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:50:30 +0000

I’ve come to the end of my year of data collection and have brought together more than 800 site coin profiles from England. It’s involved looking through more than 62 000Â Roman coin records on the database, scanning hundreds of excavation reports and reading every county journal published since 1990! I’ve just come accross a quote from Petronius’ Satyricon which I think sums up what I (and other applied numismatists) have been doing quite well.

…’They will pick even the smallest coins out of the muck-heap with their teeth’…

Now that combing through the muck is over, I need to do some work on what all those tiny coins mean. Statistics and Correspondence Analysis here I come!

Return of the blog…

Philippa Walton — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:10:02 +0000

Yes, it’s true. The blog is back after some pretty pathetic attempts in Year 1 to write anything at all. I think the lack of posts had a lot to doÂ with the fact that it’s not that exciting to read or write about collecting and processing data, making little graphs and searching journals for comparative data and I really didn’t want to be boring! But now that I’ve nearly collated all my data, things should get a little more interesting. And if they don’t I can always tell you about how many Roman bikinis have been found in London, about a Roman bog body up north or the Latin nicknames of the animals portrayed in mosaics at Rudston Roman villa….

Walton’s 450 sites…

Philippa Walton — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:53:48 +0000

It’s taken just over six months, but I have now just about looked at all the Roman coin records on the PAS database. Ive updated a few and added Reece periods to many and parish by parish, county by county begun to build up a picture of what’s happening nationwide (well England-wide to be precise).

Excitingly there are 469 parishes England-wide with more than 20 ‘Reeceable’ coins so I’ve got a lot of data to play with. Next step is to encourage detectorists to bring forward assemblages to their local FLOs, especially in some of the more patchy areas (Kent and County Durham being two) and to look for some good excavation coin assemblages.

Then it’s on to the analysis stage and the possibilities are endless…I’ll be looking to assess site function through coin profile (I’m particularly interested in rural shrines and temples) and to see whether I can make sense of some obvious regional patterning.

Google Earth KMZ file

I’m back!

Philippa Walton — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:40:39 +0000

I know it’s been a long time. I have not been hibernating or spending my AHRC grant on riotous living.

I’m still wading through the PAS Roman coin data and have now looked at more than 20 counties and created Reece profiles for them all*. I’m also now more than just experimenting with Google Maps. At the moment, I’m using it to plot all parishes with more than 20 and fewer than 20 coins and uploading my plots into Google Earth. Just comparing these with Richard Reece’s 140 sites shows how much potential the PAS data has to fill in the gaps. When the Barrington Atlas layers come out things will get even more exciting!

By the end of April I hope I’ll have created a summary nationalÂ picture and then it’ll be time to start looking for patterns….just a small task!

*Avon, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, The Isle of Wight, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire

Playing around with Google maps

Philippa Walton — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:20:01 +0000

I am still playing with the Hampshire data in anticipation of seeing Richard Reece later this week. I’ve found that there are 16 sites with coin assemblages worthy of further investigation – just look here for a simple plot map of their locations. (I love google maps )

View Larger Map

A Hampshire profile

Philippa Walton — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:05:11 +0000

Well, I’ve struggled with spreadsheets and statistics for the past couple of weeks and I am pleased to say that it has all been worthwhile… I now have a county profile for Hampshire… And what does it tell us about Roman Hampshire? Well, I would love to show you but I appear to have left ... Continue Reading →

Getting started

Philippa Walton — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:10:58 +0000

I have now being at UCL for a week and despite all their attempts to stop me from doing any work, I am just about managing to fit some in around enrolling, fresher’s week and finding my way around London.

On my first day as a PhD student, Sam Moorhead and I spent hours with the Surrey FLO, David Williams sorting a large assemblage of coins found by several detectorists in Hampshire. They come from a watery spring site and as I am interested in all things votive, I was very keen to analyse them. Although we only managed to do some basic sorting, it highlighted the possibilities of regional variation in 4th century reverses. There were several FEL TEMP REPARATIO types (particularly the phoenix on globe and man being dragged from hut) which were reasonably common amongst the Hampshire assemblage but which I had never seen as FLO for the North East or Cambridgeshire. Regional variation is obviously something I am going to be looking into in a great deal more detail.

Anyway, having started with a Hampshire site, it seemed sensible to have a go at making sense of all the Hampshire PAS data. And so I am now trawling through all 3502 records and playing around with them. Watch this space for some results…hopefully quite soon!

Research Design

Philippa Walton — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:58:27 +0000

And just in case you are really interested, here’s an edited version of my Research Design for the project. As you can see I’ve only got a little bit of work to do!!

1 Summary The 46812 Roman coins recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme Database (PASD) represent an enormous, untapped digital resource. They have the potential to transform our knowledge of coin use and loss throughout the Romano-British landscape and answer wider social and economic questions. This project will unlock their potential, complementing and building upon existing research, most notably that undertaken by Richard Reece (Reece, 1995).

2 Project Aims

This project has three aims: to identify individual coin assemblages and produce graphical and statistical syntheses of these; to interpret the data to explore a range of research questions; and to publish the results as widely as possible.

2.1 To identify individual coin assemblages on the PASD and to produce graphical and statistical syntheses of these assemblages

The first step will assess the quality of coin data on the PASD, and where possible improve existing records. I will identify likely geographical and selection biases in the dataset and put in place processes to correct for these. Once biases have been accounted for, I will then select a number of assemblages from individual sites within target regions. Within these regions, I will employ GIS software to map the geographical distribution of sites, whilst using Reece tables and cumulative frequency analysis to produce chronological site profiles (Reece, ibid). I will also employ a range of other statistical methods including cluster analysis and correspondence analysis (Lockyear, 2000) to explore whether any new, more efficient or more reliable approaches to presenting and comparing the data can be introduced. Coin data will not be studied in isolation from other categories of finds as has traditionally occurred. Where possible, Roman finds records from the PASD will be integrated with the site coin profiles I produce. In this regard, collaboration with Tom Brindle, who is conducting a national study of Roman finds on the PASD will be particularly important. In addition, liaison with researchers who are working on profiling sites through particular artefact types will be invaluable. (Plouviez, forthcoming) The result will be a body of synthesized data from sites across England and Wales which will be comparable to, yet more comprehensive than, Richard Reece’s Roman Coins from 140 Sites (Reece, 1991)

2.2 To interpret the data in order to explore a range of research questions

Using this body of synthesized data, I will be able to undertake comparisons of coins finds from PASD with published data. I will also address a range of research issues, dependant on data quality. These include, but are not are limited to:

RESEARCH THEMES	APPROACH
1. Rural religious practice
1.1 Identify new temple and votive sites	Identifying potential matches between published temple coin profiles and those of the PASD. Combine with finds data from PASD to identify sites. (see Walton, forthcoming)
1.2 Better understand existing temple and votive sites	Add coin data from PASD to information from known sites eg Great Walsingham, Norfolk. This will give a better of understanding of their precise nature.
2. Rural coin use and loss
2.1 Better understand extent and speed of spread of coin in rural sites
2.2 Examine the extent to which rural coin use is related to the presence of the Roman army	Using case study data, apply mapping techniques to investigate the number of Roman coin found at a range of distances from military installations in the early Roman period.
2.3 Can PASD be used to identify Roman roads and river crossings	Compare geographical and chronological distribution of coin with known mapping of transport network and highlight areas where this mapping might be updated.
2.4 Establish if the PASD provides a more detailed overview of the rural landscape
2.5 Attempt to address the question of whether Roman coins were used in any numbers before the Roman invasion
3. Late Roman period
3.1 Examine whether data supports the theory that coin ceased to be used in the late Roman period in the north and west
3.2 Investigate if the Valentinianic coin peak was uniform across England and Wales
3.3 Investigate assemblages from different late Roman military regions to determine potential differential coin supply
4. Trade and Economy
4.1 Investigate whether Byzantine coins recorded by the PASD are post medieval souvenirs or evidence of continuing exchange between Britain and the continent after 410AD	Locate relevant findspots and then establish whether coins have plausible findspots or accompanying finds data of very late Roman or early Early Medieval date.
4.2 Investigate hypotheses that there were direct trade links between the eastern Mediterranean and Cornwall and the Irish Sea region	Map coins of different mints and compare their locations to see if clustering occurs. Then cross-reference this to existing published data to look for positive comparisons.

2.3

To present and publish the information in an accessible format and disseminate the information as widely as possible

The results of this programme of research will have wide appeal to academics, professional archaeologists and members of the public. In addition to publishing findings in the traditional manner, full use of the PAS website will be made. Progress reports with profiles of sites will be posted on the relevant pages as they are compiled. Articles highlighting particular aspects of the research will also be contributed to The Searcher and Treasure Hunting to raise the profile of recording Roman coins and the usefulness of the PASD.

Bibliography

Lockyear, K. (2000) Site Finds in Roman Britain: A comparison of techniques Oxford Journal of Archaeology 2000, Vol. 19, no. 4, 397-423

Moorhead, S. (forthcoming) Extending the frontiers: How the PAS Roman Coin Database expands our knowledge of Roman coin use in England in A decade of discovery: A Conference to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, BAR Brit Series

Plouviez, J. (forthcoming) Counting Roman Brooches in A decade of discovery: A Conference to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, BAR Brit Series

Reece, R. (1991) Roman Coins from 140 Sites in Britain, Cotswold Studies, Volume IV

Reece, R. (1995) Site-finds in Roman Britain in Britannia Vol. XXVI, 1991, 180-206

Walton, P. (forthcoming) Finds from the River Tees at Piercebridge in H. Cool (ed.) Excavations at Piercebridge, County Durham