Found on the outskirts of mediaeval Carthage in what is now Tunis, the Tunis 1954 Hoard is fairly typical of a seventh century Byzantine gold hoard. It contained coins from the reign of Maurice to the first reign of Justinian II, giving it a terminus post quem of between 685 and 695, not long before the final fall of Carthage to the Umayyad Caliphate in 698. The deposition of this hoard was likely to protect its contents from the ongoing war with the Caliphate. The wide chronological range of the hoard is suggestive that gold coins were circulating in the Byzantine Empire on the basis of their gold content, regardless of which emperor the coin was struck for.

Like many of our other hoards, Tunis 1954’s exact original context is unknown, although we do know that it was found in 1954 on the outskirts of mediaeval Carthage.

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