The databank dFMRÖ represents an addendum to the project FRMÖ which has existed at the OeAW since 1971. The joint goal is to make freely available the data regarding coin finds, since these constitute the basis for every future study. Accompanying the already published volumes, the numismatic fundamental data of selected inventories will be made accessible at this location.

From the numismatic aspect, the databank could only be realised with the help of Dr. Ursula Schachinger and Dr. Franziska Schmidt-Dick. Dr. Cristian Găzdac, Dr. Christian Gugl and Dr. Renate Jerney have also contributed to the project.

The technical aspect is a MySQL databank programmed by Johannes Wohlgemuth. This is currently in a start-up phase; additional material and images relating to the coins will follow.

The Databank

The databank contains ancient coins from Austria that have been lawfully reported and which to a great extent have already been published. The material is compiled in the following manner:

 

17,745

FMRÖ VI, 1 (Styria)

1,728

FMRÖ IV, I (Ovilavis / Wels)

1,155

Scattered finds from Mautern, Wallsee and Zwentendorf (Lower Austria) – not published in the context of the FMRÖ

1,214

FMRÖ II, 2 (treasure trove from Baldersdorf / Carinthia)

307

Virunum (Gugl - Jerney 2004)

25

Virunum - coin hoard from the amphitheatre 1998 (Gugl - Jerney 2004)

13,471

FMRÖ I, 2 (Burgenland)

1,424

FMRÖ I, 1 (treasure trove from Jabing / Burgenland)

38,496


FMRÖ III, 2 (Carnuntum) – after February 2008


75,565

total


Of the 38,496 ancient coins from Carnuntum, the treasure troves as well as ca. 3,500 individual finds are illustrated in their entirety. All of the pieces from the treasure trove from Baldersdorf have been scanned and are accessible, after a fashion, as unrefined photos.

Since spring of 2007, Roman coins from Romania are also accessible in the databank; these have been processed by Cristian Gazdac and made available. This is the content of the volume “Colonia Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa”, the first in the series “Coins from Roman sites and collections of Roman coins from Romania”.

Similar projects are currently underway in Great Britain and the Netherlands, which nonetheless cover a much longer time period up until the modern era. Each of the institutions in charge, moreover, is also concurrently equipped with the authority to accept reports of finds; in Austria, this aspect is handled by law at the Federal Monuments Office.

In the Netherlands, the Money- and Bank Museum in Utrecht maintains the online databank NUMIS. As of December 2007, this comprises ca. 41,000 pieces of evidence up until 1600 A.D.

The Portable Antiquity Scheme in England makes available the data of over 300,000 archaeologically relevant objects, from the Celts up until the modern era, including ca. 59,000 coins (Dec. 2007). In addition it contains a large amount of useful background information, in particular for Roman coins.