How plundered Gaulish silver ended up in Roman coins
Ancient monetary policy could be seriously aggressive
AS BIG as their empire was, the Romans never reached Greenland. Yet that remote island has become the place to go for those interested in ancient economic history. Greenland’s ice sheets preserve traces of atmospheric lead emitted in Europe and north Africa as part of the silver-making process. Since silver coins were ubiquitous in antiquity, fluctuations in lead levels serve as a proxy for the ups and downs of the ancient money supply.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Carpe argentum”
From the October 7th 2023 edition
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