Celtic Coin Index 4-2

The Iron Age in Britain was a period of profound social and economic change: regional politics and community identities were in flux, links to continental Europe were becoming increasingly profound and large parts of England embraced a key new economic and social medium: gold and silver coins. These (so-called 'Celtic') coins presented ornate imagery and complex designs to their users. As these coins were the first objects to bear written words, they mark the end of ‘prehistory’ in Britain. Even though Later Iron Age coins can be used to shed light on various aspects of life in this period, ranging from social structure and economy to ancient belief systems, they have often been excluded from wider studies on Iron Age material culture.

Through this MicroPasts project, you can participate in making the largest archive of Iron Age coinage in the world accessible online, providing new opportunities for research. We will use data from the Celtic Coin Index (CCI), the premier collection of records on late Iron Age coins from Britain, currently comprising of more than 37,000 Celtic coins https://ccid.web.ox.ac.uk, to undertake this study. Thanks also to the Trustees of the British Museum and Chris Rudd who also provided coin images.

This project is on behalf of: