Discoveries of Preroman Monetary Hoards in Funerary Contexts at Tomis (Constanța, Romania)

The complete decommissioning of the Old Railway Station in Constanta, built in 1860, as well as the railway sleepers in the central area of Constanta, took place during the years 1957-1961. Initially, in the absence of teams of archaeologists from the Regional History Museum in Constanta, the works were carried out inside an early Greek and Hellenistic necropolis of ancient Tomis. Unfortunately, between 1959-1961, many pieces discovered in the inventories of some tombs ended up being divided by the workers and engineers present on the construction sites. Thus, under these conditions, various heritage assets, such as metal vessels, ceramic vessels, glass vessels, coins, jewelry, etc., did not end up in museum collections. This article analyzes, within these fortuitous discoveries, two funerary hoards dated to the 5th century BC. These were composed of 4 silver pieces from the Achaemenid Empire and 8 silver specimens from Parion. Practically, for the ancient period the coins discovered in the tombs had a precise destination, which belonged to the spiritual religious life, and when there are several associated, they constituted voluntary deposits. They represented relict cash that was no longer used on the local or regional monetary market, having been removed and collected from local monetary circulation.