Change. the development of the monetary economy of ancient anatolia, c. 630-30 bc.
This project gathers, for the first time, the evidence for the development of the monetary economy of Anatolia, from the invention of coinage there in the late 7th century BC to the absorption of the region by Rome c. 30 BC. Using new digital technology, it organizes this evidence to deploy it for the first time to answer major questions concerning the economic history of this region over the longue durée.
Part 1 creates a complete overview of the relevant coinages produced by c.300 cities, 4 empires, 6 kingdoms, and c.50 independent dynasts in this period and region. Delivered with established Linked Open Data technology, this framework amalgamates coins in 5 public collections to create a database of c.50,000 coins. This database will be used to quantify monetary production over time and place.
Part 2 assembles for the first time a full record of published finds of coins from hoard and excavation contexts. This data will be amalgamated with that from Part 1 to produce a detailed mapping of movement of coinage over time and place.
Part 3 assembles a checklist of epigraphic documents attesting to monetary behaviour across the period of interest. This will be analysed for types and change of monetary activity over time, thus overlaying the evidence from one discipline on that of another.
Part 4 comprises a series of interdisciplinary enquiries into the change in the monetary economy based on data from Parts 1-3. Major questions regarding the purpose of coinage, extent of monetisation, and efficiency of transaction will be investigated. It also addresses questions that have dominated recent debates such as economic connectivity, the existence of networks, and economic balance between large states and small. CHANGE will offer a case study of what can be achieved through the marriage of ‘traditional’ research with new methods and tools created by ‘Digital Humanities’. It offers a model for the re-evaluation of the monetary economy of the whole Ancient Mediterranean.