UCL Institute of Archaeology

Kris Lockyear was invited to present his research on Roman coin hoards at a special two-day conference in Tulcea, Romania.

The Roman city of Aegyssus, modern Tulcea in eastern Romania, was first mentioned by Ovid in AD 12 when he was exiled in Tomis, modern Constanta.  To mark the 2000th anniversary of this event the Institutul de Cercetari Eco-Muzeale, Tulcea held a two-day conference on 'The western Black Sea region in the Age of Augustus'.  Delegates from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Ukraine, Germany, France, Italy and the UK gathered to deliver papers on the subject discussing the historical, epigraphic, archaeological and numismatic evidence.

Kris presented a paper on "Coin hoards at the time of Augustus" which investigated patterning in the contents of hoards using multivariate statistical methods. As well as the conference the Institute is hosting an exhibition to celebrate the occasion and has produced a well-illustrated catalogue while the conference proceedings will be published.

After the conference Kris spent a couple of days at Noviodunum sampling Roman ceramic building materials for thin section and other scientific analysis. The samples are being analysed as part of a masters dissertation being undertaken by Sheila Oberreuter which aims to look at the pattern of supply for the Roman military granary excavated by the Noviodunum Archaeological Project in 2007, including an assessment of the accuracy of the fabric groupings identified using a hand lens only and the degree of variability within fabrics.

Kris, who was recently elected to the Council of the Royal Numismatic Society, shall be returning to Romania in August to continue the analysis of the CBM assemblage before going to Bulgaria to speak at the XII International Limes Congress being held in Ruse in September.