Bob Keeler initiated a thread regarding the presence of non-US coins in US
archaeological assemblages. Mark Branstner mentioned that this subject was
brought up on HISTARCH a few years ago.
Would anyone know when this was, or if there is an EASY way to search the
HISTARCH files? (ARCH-L is easy for all sorts of searches, but that for
HISTARCH is quite archaic.)
Also, along the same line, I have been wondering if anyone has done
studies on the rate of attrition of coins from circulation and calculating
the time between when the coin was minted and its likey entrance into the
archaeological record. I have seen a similar study for 19th century
bottles (sorry can't locate the article) and I have a feeling that the US
mint has facts and figures, but what have folks in the archaeological world
done about it?
In lieu of such studies we can only infer stright forward TPQ dates to the
deposits containing coins, and might stretch it a bit and make some
allowance for the degree of wear present on the coin (ie it is not a
contemorary coin as it is very worn). A defined rate, derived from
analysis of recent circulation (assuming that the rate of loss is constant
through time) could be used to give some sort of Standard Deviation or
whatever (pardon my statistics) by which the most likely date of the
deposit can be determined.
Examples:
In 1971 Gilbert Hagerty did a simple study of coins in circulation (n =
1329 gleaned from student's pockets) in which he found that coins 1-10
years old made up 38% of the sample, 11-20 = 32%, 21-30 = 25%, 31-40 = 1%
and 41+ = 0.1%
In 1988 I conducted a similar study (n = 1575) in which I found 1-10 = 56%,
11-20 = 27%, 21-30 = 17%, 31-40 = 1% and 41+ = 0%
and again in 1995 I did another (n = 722) in which I found slightly
different numbers: 1-10 = 50%, 11-20 = 31%, 21-30 = 17%, 31-40 = 1%, and
41+ = 0%
recapitulation:
(in 10 year increments)
1971 = 38 32 25 1 0.1
1988 = 56 27 17 1 0
1995 = 50 31 17 1 0
In otherwords in 1995 a coin that was minted in 1970 (had only a 31%
chance of still being in circulation (and conversely a 69% chance of being
in the archaeological record).
Of course, the number minted, face value, material, physical size of the
coin, etc. are factors which would affect attrition from or retention in
circulation - resulting in a skew of the findings.
Has anyone done similar studies? I know the mint must keep track of this
stuff to figure how many coins to produce but a perusal of their annual
reports turned up nothing - how about studies from an archaeolgical angle?
Dan W.
citation:
Hagerty, Gilbert, 1971, "Oneida Miscellany" _Bulletin of the Chenango
Chapter, New York State Archaeological Association_ Vol 16 #1, page 18.
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