When an archaeologists goes on a dig they have certain dreams. What they might consider a success is rather different to you and I. Our perceptions are probably closer to the first Victorian archaeologists who went about ripping Neolithic long barrows and places like Stonehenge to bits trying to find a nice gold hoard. They were very disappointed to find bones, axe heads, bits of flint arrows and broken pottery beakers.However they soon recovered and decided to say how important all this stone age rubbish was and so modern archaeology was born. So our jolly archaeologist is really looking for something that will conclusively prove that Paleolithic people had access to a cart or that the Mesolithic people ate chickens. The Victorians were on safer ground when they started to look at the Roman sites around Britain. The Romans had a strong economy and best of all they had coins. Mention coins to a modern archaeologists and they will inwardly sigh as, whilst they are great for dating things they are pretty much much of a muchness. The archaeologist dreams of finding a sword.
The collecting of coins is actually very interesting. One of its original and biggest fans was actually a very important Roman. He was the Emperor Caesar Augustus and he loved nothing better on a Saturday night then so off his collection of coins. Not all of them where even Roman, apparently he had some Mesopotamian shekels as well. UK Coin dealers such as https://www.gmcoins.co.uk/ can help you start with your own collection of ancient and modern coins.
The beauty of the Roman coins is that there were so many types and styles. They are also incredibly detailed, as Augustus was such a fan the Roman Mint came up with a coins quite a bit. They naturally minted a new set when the Emperor changed (which could be pretty regular occurrence) so new coins were being produced over and over again.
You can see a number of these coins in museums and Roman Archaeological sites across the country. They have stood the test of time incredibly well. If you are interested in seeing whether you can find some of these coins yourself, some of the archaeological teams allow volunteers to go along and help out at their digs. All you need to do is get in touch with your local society and find out what they are working on.
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