Royal Numismatic Hoard from Samshvilde (Political and Economic Aspect of the Medieval South Caucasus based on Archaeological Data)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Samshvilde, in the South Caucasus (Southern Georgia), is a complex and multi-period archaeological site. The historical city occupies an impregnable location on a basalt cape flanked by the deep valleys. This distinctive landscape, combined with environmental conditions and abundant natural resources, have attracted people for millennia, but the “Golden Era” of Samshvilde City was in the eleventh–twelfth centuries when it became a Royal Center of the whole Region. It is noteworthy that the Numismatic Hoard of Medieval Coins of “Royal Period” was discovered by the team of archaeologist inside the main fortification walls of the City. The hoard combines a unique collection of Georgian and Oriental coins, which were circulating in the whole region in the eleventh–twelfth centuries and represented an unique value for the whole Near East. The silver and copper coins of the four Georgian Monarchs are represented here, bearing the inscriptions in three (Georgian, Arabian, Greek) languages, that helps to understand economic, political, and cultural importance of medieval South Caucasus, as the main crossroad on the “Silk Road” for West and the East.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35525.0