The Roman coins found within the area of modern Denmark form the empirical basis of the present study. It is my intention to present and discuss the coins as archaeological artefacts. The provenance and context of the individual coin are regarded as parameters of equal importance for the interpretation of the find as the numismatic evidence inherent in the coin. Initially more weight is put on answering the "how, when and why" regarding the Roman coins in the local context and the import of the Roman coins into the Danish Iron Age cultures, than the how, when and why regarding the export of the coins from the Roman Empire. The latter questions will mostly be touched on in the last part of the book, where I will attempt to compare the evidence from Denmark with finds from other parts of Barbaricum.

The life cycle of a coin is long. One might even argue that its existence as a coin is only a minor part of the recycling of metal. In the field of archaeology, coin finds are evidence of connections between human beings. Coins were brought from one place to another by someone, with a reason to do so. Any object acquires new properties when moved from one cultural context to another, and the meaning of the Roman coin in the Danish Iron Age context no doubt differed greatly from its original significance. The Roman denarius was meant to be used as a coin in a monetary economy. Having left the area where the denarius was recognized as coin, it assumed new meanings. But, what were those new meanings? How was the denarius perceived in non-Roman communities? Which purposes did the coin serve? This book covers the later part of the Roman coin's existence - its arrival in Bornholm, its use there, and its deposition in and recovery from the soil.