As a rule, ancient money commands respect: it has seen and known much, sometimes containing secrets that remain unsolved for centuries. For instance, the material from which a coin is made allows us to conclude what metals were used at that time, how various alloys were composed, and whether the blanks were processed by casting or forging. If you weigh several identical coins, you will get an answer to the question of what units of measurement our distant ancestors used. Are you interested in ancient prices? Add to this some other data, and your curiosity will be more than satisfied. The samples of gold and silver coins will give a complete picture of the wealth of a particular country - if the precious metal is less than declared, it means the ruler deceived the people by debasing the coin.
Metal discs convey to us the likenesses of people who lived many centuries ago. On the drachma of the Sasanian king of Iran, Kavad (who ruled from 489 to 531 AD), we see a man with a distinctly Eastern facial type, with a beard and long hair. How would we know about this if it weren't for this coin? As written sources confirm, a reliable portrait of the great commander Alexander the Great is depicted on the tetradrachm. Coins have also preserved the faces of famous poets, writers, philosophers - Herodotus, Hippocrates, Horace, and others... Many monuments of architecture and art have left only ruins, but coins have conveyed their original appearance through the ages.
Coins can be used to study the flora and fauna of the countries where they were minted, to restore certain legends, to determine the time of great battles and sporting Olympics through episodes. What gods were revered, in which temples services were held, and what ancient rituals were like - metal money can tell us about this too. As well as about political struggles, for example, between kings and popes: French King Louis XII, out of hatred for Pope Julius II, ordered the inscription on coins: "Let us destroy the name of Babylon" - the king referred to papal power...
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since metal money came into use. From household items - knives, nails, arrowheads, dishes, which were exchanged like any other goods, they gradually became money. Among the Germans: "pfanne" (pan) - "pfennig". Eastern knives were weapons, but over time they became lighter, lost their blades and handles, and took on a special monetary form of rings that were carried around on a string. In China, pieces of metal in the shape of a "shirt," resembling clothing of that time, circulated as money. Over the years, money began to take on specific forms: in Indochina - thick copper rods, in North America - lead balls, in Africa - pieces of iron shaped like horseshoes; in Cambodia - iron diamonds...
Isn't it curious: why is a coin called a coin? In 275 BC, Rome - finally! - achieved victory over King Pyrrhus of Epirus and his allies - the Greek cities of Southern Italy. In honor of this, generous offerings of gold, precious stones, expensive fabrics, and animals were brought to the temple of the goddess protector Juno Moneta, which stood at the highest point of the capital, atop the Capitoline Hill. Odes were composed in her glory, and beautiful statues were sculpted. A law was also enacted to mint money only in the temple of Juno Moneta.
Since then, in many countries, metal money has been called coins.
And coins hidden in secluded corners are called treasures. Since ancient times, people have buried money. Long ago, the expression "to bury a talent in the ground" came into being. However, in its original meaning, it had no direct relation to a person who, possessing great abilities, failed to realize them.
One of the treasures - in a large clay pot - was found in the village of Belovodskoye while digging a pit for a new house. When news of the treasure spread among the neighbors, almost each of them left the yard with a handful of coins. It was fortunate that local historian I. Trofimov learned about the find, who stopped the looting, collected the remaining coins, and handed them over to the museum. A total of 2,245 copper-lead dirhams made it to the museum.
But for the coins to speak, they must be studied. This is not easy. Having lain in the ground for over 900 years, they oxidize significantly, and to avoid damaging the text (legend), they need to be cleaned carefully and slowly. Often, a coin may turn out to be worn down due to prolonged circulation. But even if it is cleaned and well-preserved, reading the text correctly is not so simple. On the Karakhanid dirhams, the inscriptions are made in Arabic script, but without special diacritical marks. Hence the discrepancies that lead to erroneous historical conclusions.
Yes, the bread of a scholar-nummismatist is bitter. More than a thousand coins will pass through his hands before these visitors from the past speak, sharing their secrets...
In the territory of Kyrgyzstan, until 1917, several discoveries of ancient coins were registered, but information about them is very scarce, and their mere existence does not always indicate the presence of an established system of commodity-money relations. For instance, in the Reports of the Imperial Archaeological Commission for 1890, it is reported that seven gold and nineteen copper coins of the 11th century from the Karakhanids and Seljuks were found in the Koysary area of the Issyk-Kul district of the Semirechye region. In 1888, N.I. Veselovsky discovered several coins during excavations of a monument at the Uzgen settlement. Several coins were handed over by V.D. Gorodetsky to the archaeological commission from the excavations at Burana. These and similar finds allowed for the development of certain questions regarding the chronology of the Karakhanid and Qidan states in the publications of scholars H.M. Fren, B.A. Dorn, P.S. Saveliev, V.G. Tizengauzen, and A.K. Markov. The catalog of Muslim coins from the Hermitage, where a significant place is devoted to Karakhanid minting, remains a remarkable reference publication for many researchers to this day.
Coins were undoubtedly found later as well, but they were not registered even in such a serious scientific society as the Turkestan Circle of Archaeology Lovers, established in Tashkent in 1895 under the leadership of Academician V.V. Bartold. He himself only used information about coins in a number of works, without making them the subject of a special scientific study.
This work was seriously taken up by M.E. Masson - an employee of the Central Asian Committee for Museums, Preservation of Historical Monuments, Art, and Nature, the founder of the Central Asian scientific numismatic school. Leading the archaeological department of the Central Asian Museum, now transformed into the Museum of History of Uzbekistan named after Aibek, he collected and studied coins for almost 70 years of his life. The first publication of the scholar is dedicated to finds from 1917-1927. He also studied pre-revolutionary treasures mentioned in the literature. His connections with local collectors, specialists, and peasants building irrigation structures allowed him to discover not only individual coins but also information about treasures of gold coins, for example, at Burana from Seljuk minting from Herat.
M.E. Masson meticulously registered coin finds in the following decades, but published a special work in the Proceedings of the Institute of Language, History, and Literature of the Kyrgyz SSR, where he collaborated with other scholars in studying architectural and archaeological monuments. His research became an important factual source for writing all four editions of the "History of the Kyrgyz SSR." He also introduced material on the history of commodity-money relations in the region for the first time.
Over the years, knowledge about ancient coins has accumulated, initially with the help of M.E. Masson, and later with his students: Doctor of Historical Sciences E.A. Davidovich, who illuminated not only the most important issues of commodity-money relations in the states of the Samanids, Karakhanids, Timurids, Shaybanids, and Janids, but also developed the theoretical and methodological foundations of this section of Central Asian numismatics, B.D. Kochneva (Samarkand) and M.N. Fedorov (Bishkek), who are successfully working on Karakhanid numismatics.
A significant influx of coins into museum collections was provided by archaeological research in the territory of the republic, starting with the expeditions of A.N. Bernshtein - Semirechye (1938-1940), Tian Shan-Alai (1944-1947), Pamir-Fergana (1950-1952), as well as the archaeological oversight expedition during the construction of the BChK (1941). In addition to Karakhanid coins, Turkic coins were also collected, which A.N. Bernshtein was the first to introduce into scientific circulation and classify. The series of coins was also supplemented during the archaeological research of L.R. Kyzlasov at Ak-Beshim in 1953-1954, while studying the settlements of the Chuy Valley by P.N. Kozhemyako and L.P. Zyablin. Turkic coins receive special consideration in the works of numismatists O.I. Smirnova, A.M. Shcherbak, and later V.A. Livshits. Publications dedicated to the finds of treasures at several settlements, predominantly of Karakhanid coins, appeared in the 70s and 80s, and extensive articles by B.D. Kochnev, M.N. Fedorov, and V.N. Nastich were published based on the materials of excavations and finds at the Krasnorechensk and Burana settlements. Collectors, of course, hold a significant portion of the coveted coins, and they have also prepared a brochure in the realm of popular numismatics - from ancient times to the October Revolution.
Finds of coins during excavations generally help establish the date of construction of various monuments, as well as the "time of formation of so-called cultural layers." A rich material in this sense can be found in the publications of excavators-archaeologists A. Abetkov, G.A. Brykina, Y.D. Baruzdin, D.F. Vinnik, V.D. Goracheva, B.A. Duyshiev, V.P. Makrynin, M.N. Moskalev, I. Kozhomberdiev, V.M. Ploski, and others. A separate section in the last edition of the first volume of "The History of the Kyrgyz SSR" highlights the topic of trade, markets, and monetary circulation in the early Middle Ages, which was not previously addressed. With the publication of works on Karakhanid numismatics and Turkic coins by V.N. Nastich, B.D. Kochnev, and M.N. Fedorov, a systematic representation of local minting has emerged, starting from the ancient Turkic khanates to the late Karakhanid period. Using the works of E.A. Davidovich, one can also trace the development of commodity-money relations in the territory of Kyrgyzstan in the Middle Ages.