Levantine Coins Online (LCO) Now Live

This joint project is the latest in a number of projects that these institutions have undertaken together, including exhibitions and publications. LCO is a digital, open-access database of Achaemenid and Hellenistic period coin typologies from the southern Levant, currently linking to coin examples from the major collections of the Israel Antiquities Authority, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and the ANS. In the near future additional examples from other major collections, including those in Europe, will be added. At the time of launch LCO focuses solely on the coinage of Judah, but additional typologies for the coinages of Philistia and Samaria will be added in 2025. As a born-digital project, the database will be continuously expanded and updated to reflect the evolving nature of coin classifications and attributions, and will serve as an essential research tool for numismatists, archaeologists, historians, and enthusiasts.

The LCO project relies upon stable numismatic identifiers and linked open-data methodologies established by the Nomisma.org project, and integrates seamlessly with a well-established and growing network of open-access numismatic data. LCO benefits from the inclusion of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s extensive database of coin finds from controlled archaeological excavations in Israel which have been published, and the partnership of the ANS, a pioneer in online resources for ancient coins. Funding for the project has come from the Israel Science Foundation (Personal Research Grant no. 2537/23), with project co-leaders Prof. Oren Tal and Drs. Haim Gitler, Mati Johananoff, Robert Kool as well as Jessica Schellig, who has been instrumental in preparing the data, working in partnership with Ethan Gruber and Dr. Peter van Alfen at the ANS.

On the launch, Tamar & Teddy Kollek Chief Curator of Archaeology and Curator of Numismatics at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Dr. Haim Gitler noted “This is a momentous occasion for the study of ancient and Levantine coinages. Having the opportunity to present the typologies of the coinages of Yehud, Samaria, and Philistia in an open-access online format will, I’m sure, have a tremendous impact on the future study of the coinages and the economies of these regions.”