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Numismatic Archaeology: Interpreting Coin Finds from Excavation Contexts

Bronze fals of ʿAbd-al-Malik (Ummayads), standing caliph, 690–702 CE, mint of Manbij, found in Antioch, 1936. Numismatic Collection, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Firestone Library, Princeton University.

Lecture Ilse and Leo Mildenberg Memorial Lecture

Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

What do the finds of coins in archaeological excavations tell us about the history of the use of the site? In this lecture, Alan Stahl, curator of numismatics and lecturer in the Departments of Art and Archaeology, Classics, and History at Princeton University, will provide examples from ancient, Islamic, Byzantine, and medieval contexts in Syria, Asia Minor, Cyprus, and the New World to illustrate the potential—and the perils—of deducing chronology, habitation history, and monetary circulation from coin finds. Stahl is a recipient of the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society.

Co-sponsored by the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies and offered in conjunction with the 2018 Harvard Medieval Material Culture Workshop.

The lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 5:30pm.

Free admission, but limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

After the lecture, select galleries related to the talk will remain open until 8pm.

Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.

To honor the memory of renowned numismatist and scholar Leo Mildenberg (1912–2001) and his years of friendship with Harvard University, a fund was established by his friends and colleagues and endowed in 2005 by his wife, Isle Mildenberg-Seehausen.