MINCE Z PRIKOSTOLNÉHO CINTORÍNA V DUCOVOM

• Authors: Ján Hunka

Title variants

EN

Coins from the churchyard cemetery in Ducové

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

In the years 1968 – 1972 and 1975 A. Ruttkay excavated the medieval and modern-era cemetery of the nobiliary court in Ducové. During the research, 450 pieces of coins from the years 253 to 1859 were found. They are documenting the importance of the settlement in Ducové and its political and economic development. Some of coins in the founded collection at the site are very rare, e. g. a Bohemian silver denarius of Boleslaus II, the duke of Bohemia, from the end of 10th century; three Moravian denarii of bishop Bruno, minted at Olomouc in the 2nd half of 13th century; ten Bavarian broad denarii from the beginning of the 11th century; another Bavarian, Salzburgian and others pfennigs from the 15th century; Austrian pfennigs from the end of 12th century to 15th century. Hungarian coins from the beginning of 11th century to the years 1859 – 1860 are more usual. In Ducové a bigger collection of Arpadian coins from Slovakia dated to the reigning period of the rulers Stephanus I to Andreas II were found as well. They are proving the development of economic relations at the region of the central Váh river basin as well as the trade and other contacts of inhabitants living at this part of Slovakia with wide surroundings. At the same time the coins from Ducové are evidence of an unusual non-christian funeral custom of giving coins to graves. From the total number of 2000 graves, almost 450 contained also coins. This is the biggest collection of coins from graves in Slovakia and one of the utmost in central Europe, too. The Hungarian coins from Ducové give us a possibility to analyse similar groups of coins, e. g. from the time of Andreas I, Ladislaus I, Kolomanus, or Stephanus II, and to observe the legal order – exchange of several types of coins, once or twice to year. The difference between the value of older and younger coins compensated state duty. This order was applied from the 1060s to the 1st third of 14th century. Only few coins from the 14th and 15th centuries have been found at the site, as the local community was not very big. At the 2nd half of 15th century the region was occupied by enemies – the Hussite Brethren, who built a small fortress here. This was the reason why the site was completely abandoned soon. Coins of modern era from Ducové documented the social position of local inhabitants. Only coins of low value – silver and copper denarii, poltura, and copper kreutzers were given to the graves. From this time, only a copper Salzburgian kreutzer from the year 1805 is unusual. The burial place was used to 1860.

Keywords

EN

SLOVAKIA; CHURCHYARD; MIDDLE AGES; MODERN ERA; COINS; DUCOV; GRAVES

• Publisher: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute
• Journal: Slovenská archeológia (Slovak Archaeology)
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 337 – 367

Contributors

author

Ján Hunka

• Archeologický ústav SAV, Akademická 2, 949 21 Nitra, Slovak Republic