Comment
”The history of the researches of Măgura. In the village Măgura, situated in the south-west of Bacău, many archaeological discoveries were made. In 1902, more Roman coins were found and on the ,,Dealul Pichiului" archaeological researches in two ancient settlements were made: one from the Bronze Age (Monteoru Culture) and the other one from the 2nd-3rd c. AD (Carpic Culture); on the ,,Hill of Church", in the same village, a Carpic cemetery was discovered, the corresponding settlement being at about 500 m towards south; in the same place the hoard d of Roman denarii was found.
In the same zone there were also found the hoards of Roman coins: at Ciolpani - Buhuși, Traian and Blăgești.
The conditions of the discovery of the hoard. On the 28th April 1976, Dumitru Tătaru , a teacher at the General School no. 2·Măgura, accompanied by a group of pupils (from the ,,Treasure Seekers" club) started to research the ground after its being ploughed. In the garden of Natalia V. Moisoaia, a farmer (,,Șipote" point, on the left bank of the creek Negel), where Carpic pottery shreds often appeared, they found the coins and the pot of the hoard. Many coins were spread among the inhabitants of the village, but they were all recovered (2830).
The pot was found in the ground, 0,50 m deep, having its neck destroyed. It was full of coins up to its neck. In May 1976, saving excavations were made; one more coin and much archaeological material was discovered.
Carpic settlement. The archaeological excavations of 1976 showed that on the place where the hoard were found, there is a Daco-Carpic settlement. At the northern end of the control section, an oval pit was found (2.00m x 1.70m); it has the form of ,,bottle" and deepens up to 1.60 m. The pottery is of two kinds: worked by hand and by wheel. The pottery worked by hand (33%) is made up of rough paste, badly burnt, of a brick-red colour. Dacian cups and earthen vessels were found. Some of the earthen vessels are decorated with ribs in relief in the middle or lines in alveolate relief; others have their rim alveolate.
The pottery worked by wheel (67%) is of two categories: autochthonous and imported. In its turn, the autochthonous one is represented by grey (87%) and red (13%) thin vessels, as well as some grey fragments of paste with small stones, decorated with straight or waved deepened lines, on the shoulder or under the rim.
The pot of the hoard is worked of thin grey paste and had a cylindrical neck. its bod y is curved in the middle and its bottom is circular; above the belly there was an ornament, vertically arranged (the height is of 23cm; the diameter of the bottom is of 11cm). It was probably, a jug with a handle being similar with other forms from the 1st century AD. Mugs with one or two handles were also found, bowls and tureen, as well as fruit dishes. The ornaments are: straight or waved cut lines (sometimes vertically) and some polished hatchings.
The pottery of import is represented, especially by fragments of amphorae. The amphorae are made of whitish or pink-yellow rough paste; the rim is thickened and the bottom is of a hollowed frustrum of a cone shape; the handles have a median line or a large fluting. On a neck of an amphora is the Greek letter Π.
In the pot of the hoard a thread of golden was found. It is 23cm long and of 0.1 - 0.2mm. thick (Inv. no. 17382), being, perhaps, from a fabric.
Pottery analogies can be found in the Carpic settlements of Poiana-Dulcești (1st level), Lutărie - Piatra Neamț and Măgura - ,,Dealul Pichiului". The settlement from Măgura can be attributed to the old (or early) phase of Carpic culture.
Numismatic considerations. The structure of the hoard. The 2,830 coins which were recovered (Inv. no. 14,552 - 17,381) are from Augustus 1, Nero 19, Galba 5, Otho 9, Vitellius 17, Vespasian 329, Titus 73, Domitian 90, Nerva 43, Trajan 623, Hadrian 579, Antoninus Pius 616, Marcus Aurelius 343, Commodus 74, Clodius Albinus 1, Septimius Severus 7, unidentified 1.
Most of the coins are of the period Trajan - Marcus Aurelius (76.36%); the greatest number of coins are from Trajan (22.01%), Antoninus Pius (21.77%), Hadrian (20.46%), Marcus Aurelius (12.12%), Vespasian (11.63%). The n umber of coins on year/reign is great, especially at Vespasian (22.91%), Trajan (29.66%), Hadrian (26.32%), Antoninus Pius (25.66%), Titus (24.33%), Marcus Aurelius (17.16%), Vitellius (17%) and Nerva (14.33%). Both at the beginning and in the end, the coins appear in a reduced number. The nucleus of the hoard from Măgura is similar with that of the monetary depots foam Bacău (77.09%) and Ciolpani (74.39%), as well as the percentage resulted from all the hoards between the Carpathians and the Prut (74.16%). The denominations. Most of the coins are denarii (99.93%), to which two drachmas are added, from Trajan and Hadrian
Mints. Most of the denarii belonging to the hoard of Măgura are issued in Rome; one denarius from Septimius Severus of 194-195 (?) was issued at Emesa.
The drachma of Trajan period comes from the Caesarea Cappadocia and that from Hadrian, from Amisos Ponti.
The metal. The issues up to Commodus have a good silver; the coins of the last part of his reign, as well as those of Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus, are coined of a bad quality alloy. Also, a coin from Vespasian has a bad alloy.
Three plated coins were identified in the hoard: one from Hadrian, another one from Antoninus Pius and the last, unidentified, probably from Trajan.
The weight. Before being cleaned, the 2,830 coins had a weight of 9,290g and after their cleaning, 9,075.17g. So, there is a difference of about 215g. If we take into consideration only the denarii (2,827 in number), before cleaning they weighted more than 9,285g, and after 9,069.65g; the difference is of 216g The average weight of the denarii from the hoard is great (3.204g); their weight before cleaning was of 3.284g. (the difference is of 0.080g).
Most of the coins from Măgura (2,500) are between 3.00g. - 3.50g. According to the Emperors' reigns, the lowest average weights are met at Septimius Severus (2.97g), Commodus (3.06g) and Vitellius (3.10g), and the highest ones to Marcus Aurelius (3.31g), Antoninus Pius (3.25g), Domitian and Nerva (3.23g).
A denarius from Vespasian has the countermark C.
The conservation. Though we can 't appreciate quite well their conservation state, we noticed that more than 71% of the coins have an advanced wearing, especially the old ones. Only one fleur de coin from Antoninus Pius was found.
Just like at other hoards (Puriceni, Hertioana de Jos, Blăgești and Mastacăn), we noticed at this hoard that many coins have fragments broken by a sharp thing sometimes eight fragments are absent. We met the most numerous cases up to Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. We think that this fact happened after the reign of Septimius Severus, in order to get precious metal for the finances of the Empire.
The axle. We noticed that the direction of the axles is the same in monetary series (with small differences - 6) -12; it seems to be a certain rule.
The diameter. Most of the coins have their diameter between 17-19 mm.”
Tezaurul de la Măgura, pp. 77-79
Data given by W. E. Metcalf. CHECK REFERENCE AS SUMMARY GIVES TOTAL OF 2828 DENARII FROM AUGUSTUS TO SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS and 2 EASTERN AR OF AMISUS AND CAESAREA.
