A new find of ‘lead’ pieces at the Chayka fortified settlement in Northwestern Crimea: the attribution of Chersonese coin-like pieces revisited

In 2019 a round lead piece featuring a bucranium with a garland on the obverse and Hermes wearing a petasos and facing right on the reverse was found at the Chayka fortified settlement in northwestern Crimea. It dates to the period not later than the third quarter of the 2nd century BC. The purpose of the lead coinlike pieces has been debated among the researchers and these coinlike pieces are seen as tesserae or coins. A great number of the lead pieces of the bucranium-Hermes’ type suggest that they were used as small coins from the extraordinary issue of coins during the economic crisis in Chersonese. The lead pieces display narrative scenes common in Chersonese numismatics. The fact that there is no name of the issuing city on the lead pieces does not apply as an argument against their use as coins because small copper coins of the 2nd century BC do not exhibit the name of the city either. This find at Chayka undermines the argument that the lead pieces were used as tesserae and, moreover, only in the nearby chora of Chersonese. Presumably, the lead pieces of the ‘bucranium-Hermes’ type were issued as small coins because of copper shortage during the crisis of the Chersonese economy.