Call for Papers for a Panel Sponsored by the
Friends of Numismatics
Lenses into the Ancient World: Coins and Pedagogy
Organized by Roberta Stewart (Dartmouth College) and
Nathan T. Elkins (American Numismatic Society)
The Friends of Numismatics invites submissions for the 2025 Society for Classical Studies/ Archaeological Institute of America Annual meeting, January 2-5, 2025, in Philadelphia, PA for a panel session, Lenses into the Ancient World: Coins and Pedagogy.
Coins provide unique lenses into the ancient world. They inform us about political, cultural, historical, social, and economic conditions of the past, and are critical sources for archaeological, art historical, and historical research. They are also a generally well-organized and seriated body of visual and material evidence that can be readily placed in immediate historical contexts.
Coins are numerous and widely available, are not particularly fragile, and can be handled by students. Coins also have symbolic depth with countless iconographic features displayed on the objects’ two sides. Coins also circulated and were, thus, able to communicate ideas and messages over long distances and across time. Coins are also comprised of varying metals and have been intensively studied from the perspective of metrology and metallurgy; the study of their materiality adds yet other dimensions to our understanding of the past (e.g., economic conditions and metal sources).
This panel invites papers that provide concrete examples or case studies of how coins are used and have been used to teach students (in archaeology, art history, history, or literature classes) or to engage the public in a museum setting. We welcome discussions of lessons learned from past experiences that may help shape future pedagogical practices. We are interested in contributions that illustrate how coins (and numismatic methods) facilitate investigation of the ancient world more broadly and current questions, e.g., political economy and trade; local histories; religious transformation; gender norms, their replication and disruption; imperialism, colonialism or response to colonialism.
Questions may be directed to Roberta Stewart (Roberta.Stewart@Dartmouth.edu) or Nathan Elkins (nelkins@numismatics.org).
Please send abstracts for a 15-20 minute paper by email to Roberta Stewart (Dartmouth College) at Roberta.Stewart@Dartmouth.edu. Deadline: February 16, 2024. Abstracts should be no more than 500 words and follow the SCS guidelines for individual abstracts (see the SCS Guidelines for Authors of Abstracts). Please do not identify yourself in any way in the abstract itself. The organizers will review all submissions anonymously, and their decision will be communicated to the authors of abstracts by early March, with enough time that those whose abstracts are not chosen can participate in the individual abstract submission process for the upcoming SCS meeting.