Coinage, context and social space. The High Medieval city of El Tolmo de Minateda (Hellín, Albacete, Spain)

Abstract

Archaeological works in El Tolmo de Minateda have unearthed an important number of coins ranging from the Pre-Roman era to the Islamic period. The coins come mainly from the High Medieval parts of the settlement, a Visigoth ciuitas mostly erected ex nouo in the beginning of the VII Century, and an Islamic phase representing the latest occupation of the settlement and shaping a wide urban layout that overlays the religious area, until it was finally abandoned in the middle of the IX Century. The stratigraphic contextualization of the coins and its relation to the other archaeological materials is a powerful methodological tool that provides further insight into certain historical and economic aspects impossible to analyse in other ways. Such is the case of establishing the quantity and timeline of the existence of old currencies in high Medieval phases; use of currency and model of monetary circulation in the Visigoth city; the introduction of the Islamic currency, the arrival of the Carolingian, Oriental and African currencies, the fragmentation of the Islamic silver currency at an early stage, as well as dating ceramic contexts in the VIII Century.