Клад русских средневековых монет из Ладожской каменной крепости
Hoard of Medieval Russian Coins Found in the Stone Fortress of Ladoga

Summary/Abstract: A hoard of Russian medieval coins was discovered in 2015 during archaeological excavations on the territory of Ladoga stone fortress by the Georgievsky brigade of the Staraya Ladoga Expedition of the Institute for History of Material Culture. The find consists of 116 Russian silver coins issued by Ivan IV, Fedor Ivanovich, Boris Godunov, Fedor Borisovich Godunov or Pseudo-Demetrius I and Vasily Shuisky. The small-coins denominations significantly predominate over larger ones. It is unusual for Russian medieval treasures of the late 15th—17th centuries. There are only twenty “kopeyka” coins (17.2 %), eighty three “den’ga” coins (71.5 %) and therteen “polushka” coins (11.3 %). The weight of the majority of “kopeyka” coins from the complex (16 out of 20) ranged from 0.64 to 0.68 g. The weight of most of “den’ga” coins (76 out of 83) corresponded to the limits from 0.29 to 0.34 g. “Polushka” coin varied by weight from 0.14 to 0.16 g. Such weight distribution proves that the coins were not intentionally selected by weight. The location of the hoard — within the fortress walls, suggests that the complex represents money received and hastly hid by a man who was in the service of the Ladoga garrison. The Amount of hidden money is not typical for long-time accumulation hoards and rather close to salary of a serviceman.

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