The Byzantine coin and its imitations (the coin of the dead)-evidence from finds from the Avar khaganate graves, in the silk road and abutting areas (the 6th-8th centuries)

The paper examines the custom of placing gold Byzantine coins and theirimitations in the graves, which was spread across the Avar Khaganate, the Silk Road areaand Asia. This custom was an important element in funeral practices of various ethnicgroups in the region under consideration; it fit well into the overall tradition recordedin writings of Late Antiquity and the early medieval period. Most frequently, presenceof gold Byzantine coins is linked to the tradition of Charon's obol, or a broader conceptrelated to beliefs that it was necessary to pay a coin for the soul of the dead to be conveyedacross the river to the world of the dead. Regional differences may be singled out in theareas in question. Assemblages in the western part of the Silk Road (west of Kashgar) arecharacterized by the presence of few gold Byzantine coins or their imitations in graveswith poor funeral offerings, while the graves in the eastern part of the Silk Road (east ofKashgar) as well as in the Avar Khaganate have yielded much richer offerings. Graveswith exceptionally rich grave goods have been discovered in the areas occupied by theTurkic communities. The ritual of Charon's obol appears to be a global phenomenon,whereas Byzantine coins in the areas mentioned earlier were a very important element ofthe funeral rite from the symbolic point of view.