Melinda and Mark unraveling the mysteries of numbering the coins
During the 2009 excavation season, Jason Harris, Melinda Dewey-Gallimore and Mark Hammond began digitizing the Corinth Excavation’s numismatic study collection. The Kress Foundation has generously provided funding for these three budding numismatists to finish the necessary cataloguing and photographing.
The study collection consists of about 3,000 coins that date between 550 B.C. and modern times. It reflects many of the best examples of coin types recovered during the long history of excavation at Corinth. Often, these coins stand in need of a consolidation of all their recorded data, updated high-quality photography, and, in many cases, professional conservation, before they can be entered into a searchable database.
One of Petros Dellatolas’ photos for the Kress coin project
At the beginning of February 2010, with the help of Petros Dellatolas, photographer, and Nicole Anastasatou, Corinth’s head conservator, Jason, Melinda, and Mark picked up where they left off last summer. Assistant Director Ioulia Tzonou is supervising in the museum and Numismaist Michael Ierardi is consulting via email and Skype. Currently, the team is making steady progress towards the completion of their objectives, allowing them the time to more fully appreciate the educational value of the study collection. They are each able to take away information relevant to their own individual interests and fields of study, such as Greek social mobility, Roman provincial economy, and post-antique colonialism in the Aegean. On a practical level, they are also gaining an understanding of the evolution of “big-dig” record-keeping, and the importance of making collections stream-lined and accessible to greater numbers of students and scholars.
Completion of the project is scheduled for June. Between now and then, the data will gradually be uploaded to our online databases at ASCSA.net where the coins will be searchable as a distinct collection, but also integrated within the greater context of Corinth data and the excavation data from the Agora.
Progress of the work can be viewed at this link (only three photos available at the moment but more like the above example to come soon!).
