Continuity and Rupture in Roman Mediterranean Gaul by Benjamin P. Luley

Author:Benjamin P. Luley [Luley, Benjamin P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Archaeology, History, Ancient, Rome
ISBN: 9781789255690
Google: STX8DwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 52658843
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2020-08-31T00:30:35+00:00

Value and Exchange at Lattara before the Roman Conquest

For the period before the Roman conquest, the archaeological evidence from Lattara suggests that some individuals were evidently stockpiling large numbers of silver obols, and somewhat later larger quantities of silver monnaies à la croix as well. At the same time that some people were hoarding away large numbers of these coins, some Massaliote obols, along with a few other bronze and silver denominations, were also occasionally circulating among the inhabitants of the settlement, although these coins do not seem to have been frequently lost. How exactly, then, did coinage function at Lattara before the Roman conquest, and what value did it have to the inhabitants of the settlement?

The fact that very few silver obols, as well as the later silver monnaies à la croix, appear to have been lost at the site, especially compared with the later bronze coins of the first century BC, suggests that these silver coins were of a relatively high importance, and probably did not change hands very often, certainly not on a regular, daily basis. Above all, there is little evidence to suggest that coins or any other form of money was functioning as a general-purpose currency at Lattara for the exchange of subsistence goods among the indigenous population. As explored more fully in the previous chapter, the production of food and other material goods at Lattara appears to have been quite decentralized and small-scale before the Roman conquest. One of the few examples of spaces devoted solely to craft production from before the conquest are several metallurgy workshops. Of the workshops found at Lattara dating to prior to ca. 125 BC, none had any coins found associated with them, in marked contrast to the later workshops found for the period 125–25 BC (see below). Furthermore, there is little evidence for the importance of coins in religious practices for the period 350–125 BC, compared with after the Roman conquest. In all, there is only one example of coins being used in domestic rituals or offerings for this period: within a house dating to 225–200 BC, archaeologists uncovered a silver Massaliote obol along with a number of broken ceramic sherds and a pig jawbone underneath a mudbrick bench. The deposit of these objects appears to be a ritual offering associated with the construction or modification of the house.30 Aside from this example, however, there are no other examples of coins playing a role in domestic religious offerings or rituals, despite the numerous ritual deposits found in the floors of houses for this period.31

Drawing upon anthropological literature from across the world where money does not enter into the realm of subsistence or daily commercial transactions, it is quite possible that at Lattara before the Roman conquest, coinage was circulating – at least in part – for social payments and obligations for things like fines for injuries, marriage payments, creating social alliances, and so on. In early medieval Irish society, based upon the surviving literature dating to the seventh

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