New Types of Scordiscan Small Silver Coins from Sites in South-Eastern Pannonia

Four smaller-denomination Late Iron Age coins from south-eastern Pannonia (traditionally, this coinage is referred to as “Scordiscan”) of hitherto undocumented types have recently come to light. Two newly published obols, both affiliated to the so-called Serbian group, represent a completely new denomination within the corpus of Scordiscan coinage. Together with two hitherto unpublished drachms, one of which was found in an apparently cultic context, these coins represent a modest contribution to the current study of the Late Iron Age coinage of the region. Unfortunately, the study of Scordiscan coinage appears to be stagnating in the wake of Popović’s seminal study published almost four decades ago. In the meantime, new archaeological insights, as well as the new material that has appeared over the years, have not only enlarged the corpus of Scordiscan coins, but have also challenged some of Popović’s conclusions. Indeed, the typology and chronology he developed on the basis of the corpus published in 1987 require an update, even though Popović’s chronological arrangement seems securely anchored in reliable hoard evidence, so the necessary modifications to the currently accepted chronology may not be drastic.