Read more
List of contents
Introduction: Faith and Ritual Materialised: Coin Finds in Religious Contexts Nanouschka Myrberg Burström Part I: Money in Rituals and Practice 1. Death by Deposition?: Coins and Ritual in the Late Iron Age and Early Roman Transition in Northern Gaul David Wigg-Wolf 2. The Impact of Coinage on Ritual Offerings During the Late Iron Age (c. 250–25/15 BC) Michael Nick 3. Coins and Baptism in Late Antiquity: Written Sources and Numismatic Evidence Reconsidered Claudia Perassi 4. Pilgrims, Pennies and the Ploughzone: Folded Coins in Medieval Britain Richard Kelleher 5. Why Money Does Grow on Trees: The British Coin-Tree Custom Ceri Houlbrook Part II: Coins as Secular and Sacred Objects 6. Coins as Non-Coins: The Use and Meaning of Roman Coins in Religious Contexts Outside the Empire Helle W. Horsnæs 7. Firmly I Believe and Truly: Religious Iconography on Early Anglo-Saxon Coins Anna Gannon 8. Pecuniary Profanities?: Money, Christianity and Demonstrative Giving in the Early Middle Ages Rory Naismith 9. Coins and the Church in Medieval England: Votive and Economic Functions of Money in Religious Contexts Martin Allen 10. Sacra Moneta: Divinity, Purity, Miracles and Powers Lucia Travaini Part III: The Value and Worth of Offering 11. Worthless?: The Practice of Depositing Counterfeit Coins in Roman Votive Contexts Fleur Kemmers 12. Scandinavian Women in Search of Salvation: Women’s Use of Money in Religion and Devotional Practice Svein H. Gullbekk 13. A Cheap Salvation?: Post-Reformation Offerings in Finnish Churches Frida Ehrnsten
About the author
Nanouschka Myrberg Burström is Reader in Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at Stockholm University.
Gitte Tarnow Ingvardson is Curator of the Coin Cabinet at the Historical Museum, Lund University, and a PhD fellow at the Bornholm Museum and Copenhagen University.
Summary
This edited collection investigates coin use in religion and ritual from a modern theoretical framework and an interdisciplinary approach. Authors from different disciplines and nine different countries bring forward an array of thorough and well-worked out case studies ranging from the Roman period to the present time.
Additional text
'... essential reading for all those interested in how coins are actually used by people in their daily lives' - David Yoon, American Numismatic Society (ANS Magazine, 4/2018)
‘These material culture perspectives from the numismatic community make great strides not only in elucidation the human dynamic behind ritual coin deposition, but also in demonstrating the fruitfulness of a theoretically engaged approach.’ - Jane Kershaw, British Numismatic Journal 2019
