THE FATE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS FROM UNDERWATER RESEARCH IN ROMANIA IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE 20TH CENTURY: A POSSIBLE COIN HOARD FROM CALLATIS AND ITS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Abstract

During underwater research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s at Callatis and later at Tomis, several archaeological artifacts were discovered, including amphorae, anchors, and shipwreck remains. These objects were soon added to public collections in Constanța and Bucharest. However, some smaller objects, such as coins, remained in the private collection of one of the divers – engineer Vasile Cosma – who also participated in many independent dives. In fact, these coins and other small finds were never documented in official publications or added to state collections. Nevertheless, they did exist and, according to their last known owner, were sold to other collectors in the late 1970s, before Cosma emigrated to the United States of America. The hoard came to our attention by chance in the 1990s, when another local collector (the last known owner, after having gone through at least two other local collections) attempted to sell the coins to the National History and Archaeology Museum in Constanța. This article presents all available information concerning two related sets of coins: the original hoard of 15 Histrian coins, which included drachmas from the fourth series, and a group of 15 counterfeit Histrian drachmas that replaced the originals until the mid-1990s. The original initial hoard is significant for at least two reasons. First, it is the only known hoard of this kind – composed entirely of Histrian coins – found in a Greek city of Ionian origin within the territory controlled by Callatis, a Doric Greek centre. Second, it represents, maybe, the sole piece of archaeological and numismatic evidence related to the conflict for control of the Tomis emporium, which took place around 250 BC. We know that the original coin hoard contained silver coins specific only to the fourth series, minted in Histria. The conflict involved two opposing coalitions, composed of Greek centres such as Histria, Callatis, Apollonia Pontica, Heraclea Pontica, and Byzantion, as well as the Egyptian and Seleucid kingdoms.