Находка от денари от с. Драганци, Бургаско
Coin hoard from Dragantsi village, Burgas district
Abstract
The village of Dragantsi is located 12 km south of Karnobat and about 48 km away from Burgas. Artifacts from the Bronze Age have been registered in the northern part of its area. Artifacts from the Iron Age have been also found in the localities of Kurbak Tarla and Dryanova Mogila. Archaeological materials from the AD 2nd – 3rd c., coins including, have been registered in the space between Thracian tumuli. Artifacts from the Antiquity, Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (from 4th to 18th c.) have been found at various places within the village area.
In 1958, Manol A. Hristov from Dragantsi village offered for a purchase at the museum in Burgas 336 denarii, valued at 151,20 BGN. According to him, they had been found “in a mound”. The coins entered the Burgas Museum on April 10th 1963, under Inv. N VI. After identifying the coins according to actual catalogues it was established that the hoard composition is as follows: Tiberius – 1 piece; Nero – 13; Galba – 2; Otto – 8; Vitellius – 7; Vespasian – 163 (Titus – 12 pieces; Domitian – 22); Tutus – 47; (Vespasian – 8 posthumous; Domitian – 12); Domitian – 119; Nerva – 2; and Trajan – 1 piece (see graphic 1). The coins of the Flavian dynasty prevail – 99,7% as they are presented fairly evenly on annual issues (see graphic 2). All emissions are well preserved; the coins of the emperors before the year 69 are a bit more worn out; and some pieces latest in chronology have never been in circulation. Only three coins of all have not been struck in Rome, but in the mints of Lugdunum (2) and Ephesus (1). Five of the emissions of the Flavian dynasty are hybrids (Cat. NN 119, 219, 299, 303, 333), and ca. 14% appear rarer (the ones of Nero, Galba, Otto and 19 of the Flavii). A reverse of a Vespasian’s denarius is noteworthy (Cat. N 118) displaying a more schematic representation.
The hoards of a similar terminus post quem found in the Balkan Peninsula are small in number. Eight of them are known from the territory of today’s Romania, and three, partially preserved come from the western areas of the peninsula. To date, 17 similar hoards have been known in the territory of today’s Bulgaria (see map 1). Some of them are of a smaller amount and probably represent personal funds lost by the owner. To this category can be added about 30% known from the territory of Bulgaria (from Sofia; Altimir, Vratsa region; Lozarevo village, Pleven region; Damyanovo village, Gabrovo region; and Svishtov – see map 1). The information about eight of the rest is uncertain and they cannot be considered for some historical analyses (from Belene; Gigen village, Pleven region; Lovech; Prelez, Razgrad region; Nikyup village, Veliko Tarnovo region; Slivo Pole, Russe region; Sheynovo village, Stara Zagora region; and Yambol region).
It turns out that only three of the hoards in discussion can be used for analyses – from Dragantsi village, Burgas region; Popovo village, Yambol region; and Gradeshnitsa village, Vratsa region. All three have a different terminus post quem and do not form a horizon of concealment which we can associate with any of the significant events of this time. For the hoards from Prelez, Razgrad region and Dragantsi village, Burgas we can suggest a connection with the Dacian Wars. Possibly they have remained in the soil to the present day as the eastern areas of Moesia Inferior and Thrace were affected by Barbarian raids. So far, however, we have no other evidence or facts to support such an assertion, and for this reason it remains only an uncertain hypothesis.
