Images

A Levallois point flint tool from the Mousterian lithic industry, made by Neanderthals. It was discovered in Beuzeville, France and is on display at the museum of Toulouse, France.

These 160 aureus coins were found below the floor of a Roman house in Corbridge in 1911 CE. They were stored in a bronze jug, their true value hidden by 2 bronze coins wedged in its neck. When the jug was lifted out of the ground, the weight...

Reconstruction of the head of a Neanderthal male who lived around 70,000 years ago, found in Shanidar Cave in present-day Iraq. It is on display in the Hall of Human Origins in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Southern Italy and Sicily had no silver and had to import it to mint coins. Hoards found there contain silver ingots and coins from the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as coins minted locally. This suggests that people there needed silver...

These four British Iron age coins and 11 Roman coins were probably lost or buried in the early years of the Claudian invasion of Britain, around 43-45 CE. They might represent a purse of a Roman soldier of the Second Legion Augusta which...

This statue of the goddess of prosperity shows her seated on a lotus and a lion. She holds a lotus bud in her right hand and the pot of abundance in her left. These symbols of prosperity derive from the horn of plenty (cornucopia) carried...

Byzantine coins often show Christian symbols and an image of the Emperor. Here, Emperor Heraclius and his sons wear crowns and crosses. A cross also appear on the back. Gold solidus coins, minted in Constantinople, issued by the Byzantine...

Silver coin of the Indo-Greek King Archebius Dikaios Nikephoros, reigned 90-80 BCE. From modern-day North-West India/Pakistan. (The British Museum, London).

In the Persian Empire, some regional governors (satraps) were authorized to issue coins for military purposes. They combine Persian and Greek imagery, showing a strap's head and a local reverse image. These are some of the earliest coin portraits...

Gold crown ornaments from the Baekje kingdom of ancient Korea. From the tomb of King Muryeong (r. 501-523 BCE), near Gongju. National Treasure No. 155. (National Museum of Korea, Seoul)