A Fifth-century Purse Assemblage with Coins and <i>Hackbronze</i> from Oudenburg Reconsidered

Abstract When base metal coinage ceased arriving in the north-western Roman Provinces c. a.d . 400, no new currency was introduced. For their everyday exchanges, people may have turned to different practices, or materials, in cases where the still-circulating coins were perhaps not fulfilling demand. This paper examines an early fifth-century burial from the coastal fort at Oudenburg, Belgium. Among the male adornment in burial A-104, the purse assemblage filled with a number of coins and fragmented base metal items stands out. Was the scrap metal used for exchanges? The discussion of the coins and metal items, including their weights, reveals their possible economic functions, as well as the potential in further analysing late Roman and early medieval purse assemblages.