Platine et plomb dans les monnaies d’or mérovingiennes : nouvelles perspectives analytiques

Abstract

The debasement of Merovingian gold coins is well known. Specific gravity measurements realized by Oddy et al. allow to follow the decrease in fineness with some reliability. But the process of this debasement itself had not been researched before J.-N. Barrandon undertook proton activation analyses on royal gold coins from Marseille and Arles in the BnF. We are publishing them here and add comments dedicated to his memory. A few supplementary data obtained through LA-ICP-MS are added. The lead/ silver curve shows that silver was added to the alloy quite early. The platinum traces are intermediate between the higher values measured on the contemporaneous Byzantine coins in Constantinople and Carthage and the lower values of the Visigothic coins. Their increase in the first half of the seventh century could be related with an input of Byzantine gold.

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