this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2025
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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1,800-year-old 'piggy banks' full of Roman-era coins unearthed in French village (www.livescience.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/archaeology@mander.xyz
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[โ€“] lvxferre@mander.xyz 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They belonged to Euclio. He fiercely hid his pots of gold, because he was an old miser who feared thieves. So, his daughter got pregnant? WHO CARES, THE GOLD MATTERS MORE! ...no, wait, that was in Athens, not in Gallia. (Not even. It's from a comedy.)

The first hoard held an estimated 83 pounds (38 kilograms) of coins, which "corresponds to approximately 23,000 to 24,000 coins,"

38kg/24k coins โ‰ƒ 1.5g/coin. If this was from Rome they'd be most likely quinarii and/or denarii*, but I'm not sure if the Gallic Empire issued the same or equivalent coins. Either way, they're silver, based on colour; bronze or copper would be greener by now.

This reinforces the hypothesis it's some sort of piggy-bank. A rich person trying to hide their stash in times of insecurity would do it with solidi (gold) instead, as it's better for long-term storage. Those amphorae probably belonged to someone who worked hard to get some money, dropping a coin or two each time. Because, you know... you'll get old, your work won't give you as many fruits as before, but you still gotta eat.

The fact the amphorae were found hints the person passed away before they could reach old age. Or that they were really, really good at storing money. Either way, I hope someone spared two of those for their eyes, to pay Charon's ride.

*if this was some decades before I'd guess antoniniani too, but by 280~310 those were mostly bronze too.