ANCIENT COIN FROM TARASOVA HORA SETTLEMENT NEAR ZHABOTIN

Abstract

Тhe paper is devoted to the first find of ancient coin on the territory of the Tarasova Hora settlement near Zhabotin village of the Cherkasy district. It is the coin of Olbia city — the obol «borisphen». It was minted in 300—280 BC. Such coin was already found in a complex of things from the Early Iron Age of the 5th—4th centuries BC. That is the evidence of existence here of some sight of this period. The Finding of such coins proves the presence of cultural and trade-economic relations of the local indigenous population with the ci­ties of North-Western Pontic region and Olbia in particular.
 On the reverse of the coin the inscription of OLBIO is visible as well as the images of gorytos and axe. On Avers you can disassemble the fuzzy image of the hair curl. The coin is rectangulare, with dimensions of 1.8 × 1.4 cm. Mass 2.36 gr. The surface is covered with green oxide and has traces of scales from staying in the fire. Thus, since the coin has no difference it can be dated to the 300—280 BC.
 Such coins are not rare, and their findings are known in the large territory from the Crimea to the Middle Dnieper. Also two similar coins were accidentally found in this region on the banks of Tyasmin River near the Raygorod village of Cherkasy district. These are the bronze coins minted by Olbia in 300—280 BC, however, according to numismatics opinion, were in circulation until 230 BC, during the first half of the 3rd century BC. These coins, called by the researchers «Borisphens», depicting on the avers of the bearded Scythian deity of the Dnieper River (Borisphenes), were the only bronze coins produced in the Northern Pontic region and have got a wide spread outside Olbia, practically impossible for coins of non-cost metals.