Long Table 124. Coins for a Safe passage? Coin Deposits near the River Aa (Netherlands) and the Votive Act in Antiquity

In 2017, two metal detectorists, the brothers van Schaijk, found four denarii and almost a hundred Roman bronze coins on the banks of the Aa—a river that flows near the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. The coins have been identified as a votive accumulation hoard, which were deposited from the second half of the first century up to the second century. The finding place is far from the Roman limes border. There is, however, no habitation present from the Roman period, nor did any Roman battle take place there.

Liesbeth Claes, lecturer at Leiden University, analyzes the composition of the coin find and elaborate on its archaeological and historical context. She will delve into some of the reciprocal gift-giving rituals in antiquity and compare the find at the Aa with similar hoards in the Netherlands and Western Europe in order to get a better understanding of the use of coins in the votive phenomenon.