The island of Zakynthos has a rich and varied history, but is notoriously lacking in archaeological remains. This ‘scarcity of archaeology’ is primarily due to the extensive destruction of the ancient landscapes by earthquakes, intensive agriculture and building. The Zakynthos Archaeology Project (University of Amsterdam) is an interdisciplinary research project aiming to relate the distribution of archaeological finds to the dynamic landscape of the island.
For the final publication of the Zakynthos Archaeology Project , almost 375 Zakynthian Greek and Roman coins – some found on the island itself, but most elsewhere – have been studied and analyzed with respect to material, iconography, chronology and provenance. Our main question: what do these coins and their circulation – also compared to other sets of archaeological finds – tell us about the network in which Zakynthos participated and its development through time?
It is the first time that published and unpublished collections of important (coin) museums have been studied for this purpose, including:
• the Numismatic Museum in Athens;
• British Museum, London;
• Ashmolean Museum in Oxford;
• Numismatic Society in New York;
• Cabinet des Médailles in Paris;
• Bode-Museum (Staatliche Museums) in Berlin;
• Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Support for the viewing of the collections in Berlin and Vienna has been generously provided by the MAT.
The result of this project will be a relevant, representative and general overview of the Zakynthian coins, which can also be used as a starting point for further (numismatic) research. Expected publication date: 2020.
For further information, please contact Anne Versloot at a.i.versloot@uva.nl.
M.A.T. 