Coin dating

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The Münzdatierung is a method of absolute dating of finds or relatively chronological time periods in archeology .

When dating with the help of coins , the minting date of the most recent coin provides a terminus post quem , which means that the entire find (e.g. a grave ) can only have reached the ground after the most recent coin or coins that were added to it. However, the circulation time of the coins can be quite long, as the oldest gold coins from the grave of the Frankish King Childerich I came from the Roman Republic.

In order to avoid the dating uncertainties caused by altcoins, as far as possible no single coins, but so-called coin rows are used to determine the time. As many finds as possible are considered, which, due to their combination of finds, belong to the same relative time phase. All the coins from these finds combine to produce a statistically more meaningful total, with the most recent coin dating the entire time phase.

In older research (especially when evaluating grave finds) two different approaches to coin dating were discussed, one based on the "long" and one on the "short chronology". The “long chronology” approach is based on the assumption that the coin additions were in circulation for a long time before the burial and therefore only provided an imprecise and too early absolute dating approach. The approach of a “short chronology” that is now applicable to many archaeological cultures, on the other hand, reveals that when coins were in circulation with current issues and extensive and therefore meaningful coin series, “new” coins repeatedly entered the graves, providing a good absolute dating basis.

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