«МОНЕТА-СТРІЛКА» З ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЇ УКРАЇНИ
AN ARROWHEAD-TYPE COIN FROM CENTRAL UKRAINE

Summary/Abstract: Purpose. The aim of this article is to introduce into scholarly circulation an arrowhead-type proto-coin discovered in Kirovohrad Oblast, near the border with Cherkasy Oblast. Originality. The “arrowhead coin” examined in this study constitutes the first scientifically documented find of such a proto-coin in Central Ukraine. Moreover, this research presents the first XRF analysis of different types of proto-coins as well as of an arrowhead. Conclusions and main results. The recorded find of an “arrowhead-type coin” in the northern part of Kirovohrad Oblast, on the border with Cherkasy Oblast, may indicate the use of such proto-coins beyond the core settlement area of the Greek colonists in the Northwestern Pontic region—extending not only into the steppe zone adjacent to the Olbian chora, but also into the Ukrainian Right-Bank Forest-Steppe. The XRF analyses of “arrowhead coins,” “dolphin coins,” and a military arrowhead carried out by the author suggest a Thracian origin of the raw materials used for their production in Olbia. The arrowhead-type proto-coin found in Kirovohrad Oblast belongs to the early issues of this category of proto-coinage and exhibits a copper-tin bronze alloy composition essentially identical to that of the two examined specimens of the same type and to that of the arrowhead. This allows us to hypothesize that the “arrowhead coin” reached the Ukrainian Right-Bank Forest-Steppe in the 6th century BC.

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