A Find of an Istrian Cast ‘Wheel Coin’ at Koshary (Ukraine)

Abstract

This article’s aim is to publish a cast Istrian ‘wheel coin’ found at the Koshary site. The site is located on the northern shore of the Black Sea on the right bank of the Tiligulskii Liman and consists of a settlement, a sacral zone around an open air altar (eschara) and a necropolis. The settlement existed between the end of the 5th and the middle of the 3rd centuries BC. Among other artifacts, 55 coins have been found at the site during regular archaeological excavations. Apart from a bronze coin of Tyras and the discussed Istrian piece, all the other coins found at Koshary are Olbian. The ‘wheel coin’ was discovered in a dugout located in the southern part of the sacral area around the eschara. The cast ‘wheel coins’ were produced in the 5th-4th centuries BC in Istros and were in circulation in a wide area covering a great part of the western and northwestern Black Sea shore. The find at Koshary, when combined with other finds in Luzanivka and Ochakov, marks a trade route between Istros, Nikonion and Olbia. As it was found in the eschara area, one can suppose that the Istrian coin was not used as currency, but possessed a sacral nature instead.

Keywords

• the wheel coin
• cast
• find
• Koshary
• Istros
• Olbia