Discoveries of coins from greek city-states, Macedonia, the Roman empire and artefacts in the Bars region

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze in detail and introduce into academic circulation certain findings and coin hoards from the Greek city-states of Olbia, Pantikapaion, and Phanagoria; Macedonian coins; Geto-Dacian imitations of silver coins of Philip II (4th century BCE); and Roman coins from the 1st–4th centuries discovered in Chernyakhiv culture settlements in the Bars region of Vinnytsia Oblast. The author explores the pathways through which these coins reached the Boh and Dniester regions, examines trade and monetary relations between the local population and the inhabitants of the Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, the Lower Danube, and the eastern borders of the Roman Empire during the 4th century to the 4th century. The research methodology is based on scientific principles of objectivity, reliability, historicism, systematic analysis, and synthesis. Scientific novelty. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of a new collection of Greek, Macedonian, Dacian, and Roman coins dated from the 4th century to the 4th century discovered in the Bars region. Conclusions. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of coin hoards and isolated finds from the Bars region over the past decade suggests their significance as historical evidence of trade and monetary relations between the local pre-Slavic and early Slavic populations and the inhabitants of Scythia, Dacia, Macedonia, and the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Finds of copper coins from Greek city-states such as Pantikapaion, Phanagoria, Istros, and Olbia in a Scythian settlement near the village of Yaltushkiv in the Zhmerinsky (formerly Barsky) District, along with tools, ornaments, weapons, horse harnesses, and a bronze belt, demonstrate longstanding economic connections between local Scythian farmers, nomadic Scythians, and Greek city-states. These findings also highlight potential water and overland routes for the dissemination of Greek coins into forest-steppe Scythia. A 2024 discovery of a hoard of silver Geto-Dacian imitations of Philip II of Macedon tetradrachms (359–336) near Bar station provides new evidence about the economic interactions or conflicts between the local population and their southern Dacian neighbors. Monetary and archaeological materials from 57 sites in the Bars region, including Bar and 30 surrounding villages, confirm the dense settlement of this area by Slavic and Gothic tribes of the Chernyakhiv and Wielbark cultures (3rd–early 5th century). These findings also demonstrate stable trade and monetary relations between the local population and the eastern and southern provinces of the Roman Empire