Cristian Găzdac
Călin Cosma

Monede romane si statut social intr-o necropola de secolele VI-VII. Groapa lui Harastasan,. Noslac jud. Alba / Romania Roman Coins and Social Statute within a Necropolis of the 6th-7th Centuries. Harastasan’s Pit, Noslac – Alba County – Romania

Jan. 1, 2013

Keywords:
monede romane
statut social
social statute
funerary inventory
early medieval grave
inventar funerar
morminte medievale timpurii
DOI:

10.55201/ERDL1339

Abstract

e investigations in the store room of the National History Museum of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, have led to the “re-discovery” of seven Roman coins. eir findspots has raised quite a level of interest as the findspot mentioned on the paper labels was the wellknown early medieval necropolis of the 6th – 7th centuries of Noşlac, Alba County. Despite numerous archaeological reports on this site these coins were never studied. After being restored they proved to be coins of Nero, Vitellius, Hadrianus: Sabina, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius (an ancient fake), Marcus Aurelius: Faustina II, Gordianus III. e analysis of coins within the archaeological context and together with the funerary inventory has proved that all the seven coins come from warriors’ graves. At the same time, it shows that the bronze coins were found in those graves with a poorer inventory than the three silver coins found in one grave with a richer inventory. erefore we deal here with a phenomenon of coin as a sign for social status when the Roman coins are re-used not as an economic function but to build a social memory.