Too Big to Study? Troppo grandi da studiare?

Abstract

Enormous coin hoards have always been discovered, and very large quantities of coins are also found in archaeological excavations carried out in urban areas. All these great amounts of coins can be dated either to a restricted period or distributed along many centuries. However, these findings put the researchers in front of complicated issues mainly concerning the methodology of their study, which necessarily conditions the results of the numismatic research. Great coin numbers, different methods, exemplary projects, therefore, have merged during the congress: “Big is beautiful?”, with the consequent question: “Faut-il vraiment étudier les ‘mégadépôts’ monetaires?”. This is exactly the crucial question that marked the three days of discussion, and this is reflected in these Proceedings.