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North Africa has seen its share of invasions, the most recent being the American invasion during the second World War, but other notable ones include the conquest by the Vandals from Spain and the subsequent destruction of the Vandals by the Byzantines from Istanbul. Before that you had the Romans under Scipio Africanus, sailing to destroy Carthage and ensure that Hannibal never rose again. These, of course, are just the most prominent ones. There have been plenty of others.
The inhabitants of Africa were, therefore, well used to taking steps to preserve their wealth from the attentions of all these invaders and conquerors. The usual step was to turn as much as possible into coin and bury the lot in a jar or bag in the back garden. Although effective, this method had the disadvantage that if the knowledge of which petunia the hoard was buried beneath was widespread, someone else might come along and dig it up, but if it was restricted, the person or persons who knew about it might not survive the vicissitudes to come.
Back in the 1980s archaeologists excavating a small villa near Misuratat in Libya discovered what is believed to be the largest ever discovery of ancient coins – some 100,000 bronze and silver coins, the oldest of which are believed to date back to around 330 BC. Owing to the fact that they had been buried in pottery jars, the coins were very well preserved and, not unnaturally, the Libyan authorities kept the lot.
Unfortunately, Libya is somewhat off the beaten track and while the experts in the field do not mind popping off to the far ends of the earth in order to study a coin or two, dealing with 100,000 at a time rather eats into one’s vacation. In the twenty years since the discovery, the coins have hardly been disturbed as the experts have preferred to tackle less daunting collections in their spare time.
In an unusually generous move, the Libyan authorities have loaned the entire collection to the Italian National Centre of Research so that they can be cleaned and studied. “We will be able to finally analyse the greatest cache of classical coins ever to come down to us,” remarked Salvatore Garrafo, director of the ITABC. We can but commend the Libyans for their generous action. Not many nations would have parted with the whole of such a treasure.
April 2002
