A sixth-century tremissis from Psalmodi (Gard, France) more

OFFPRINT AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NUMISMATICS 13 Second Series THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY NEW YORK 2001 A.IN Second Series 13 (2001) pp. 63-80 © 2002 The American Numismatic Society A SIXTH-CENTURY TREMISSIS FROM PSALMODI (GARD, FRANCE) (Plate 6) Sebastian Heath* and David Yoon* The Benedictine monastery at Psalmodi in Gard, France, is most prominently marked by the standing south wall oT the twelfth-century triple-aisle church. Now the site of a farm whose main product is flowers for the European market, the first indications of permanent occupation revealed by the Williams College excavations conducted between 1970 and 1989 date to the middle of the fifth century; only a few residual sherds of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and early to mid Roman periods indicate earlier use of the site. No certain architectural features survive from the late antique settlement but there is abun- dant, though poorly stratified, ceramic evidence indicating that the inhabitants of Psalmodi had ready access to products from the main exporting regions of the Mediterranean during the late fifth and sixth centuries AD. Psalmodi is located between Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze and Aigues- Mortes, on the edge of the Petite Camargue, the western side of the Rhone delta. Although now several kilometers 1'rom the shore, in the Middle Ages and before it would have been on a small island within a coastal lagoon, subsequently filled by alluvial silts, at the mouth of the * The American Numismatic Society, Broadway at 155th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA (heath@amnumsoc.org; yoon@amnumsoc.org). 63 64 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon Vistre river. In Ihis location, the site was well placed for access both to the interior and along the coast, and profited from control of coastal resources (salt pans, in particular) as well as land-based production in its hinterland. During the sixth century, moreover, this location was at the margin between Visigothic Septimania to the west and Oslrogothic/ Prankish Provence to the east. The excavations at Psalmodi, originally directed at the twelfth- century abbey church whose remains dominate the site, revealed the foundations of an earlier church underneath, probably representing multiple phases of Carolingian and Romanesque date (Dodds 1977; Dodds et al. 1989). Around the northeast end of this early church, still earlier deposits were found, containing mostly artifacts of the fifth and sixth centuries AD. THE COIN In 1988, during cleaning of an excavation face from an earlier year in the area of the north aisle of the twelfth-century church (northeast of the earlier Carolingian or Romanesque church), a pseudo-imperial trcmissis was found (catalogue number PS88.102.11). AV Tremissis, 19 mm, 1.49 g, 6:00 (Plate 6 no. 1). Obu.: Bust diademed and draped r. See below for discussion of legend. Rev.: Victory advancing r. holding palm branch and wreath. See below for discussion of legend. The coin is well struck and centered on a thin flan. There is some wear on high points and a few scratches are present near the edge. Some original luster and flow lines are preserved. The lettering is not entirely competent, allowing for some ambiguity of reading. The obverse legend is readable but blundered enough to allow different interpretations. It is possible to interpret the legend as DN IVSTINI PP AVG, DN IVSTINS PP AVG, or DN IVSTINIS P AVG, refer- ring to Justin I (518-527). The legend is continuous over the top of the head of the imperial bust, however, which is normal on coins of Anas- tasius (491-518) but not Justin. The same legend could just as well be interpreted as DN ANASTINI PP AUG, DN ANISTIVS PP AVG, DN A Sixth-Century Tremissis from Psalmodi 65 ANSAIIVS PP AVG. or the like. Other possible readings have been published based on two other coins struck from the same die (sec below). The AVGVSTORVM of the reverse legend is thoroughly blun- dered, with Ihe third to fifth lelters being the most illegible: an approx- imate reading of the legend would be VICTORIA IOCACCA*. The legend in the exergue on the reverse is CONOB. The imperial bust on the obverse is relatively naturalistic for this series, with a tall face, an exaggerated chin, loosely drawn drapery that forms a distinctive hook shape on the chest, and an exaggerated round fibula. On the other hand, the Victory on the reverse shows some tendency toward deterioration into a bird-like or dragon-like creature: Ihe skirt has turned info two streamers on the right side, almost becoming a new pair of legs, and a tail-like appendage on the left, and the wreath with the. arm holding it resembles a small head with a long, thick neck. At least two other published coins were struck from the same obverse and reverse dies: a coin in the Cabinet des Medailles of the Bibliolhequc Xationale de Prance (Plate 6 no. 2; BN 236), published as Lenormant (1853) pi. VII no. 8, Belfort (1894) no. 5113, and Toma- sini (1961) no. 122, and another in Nimes (Plate 6 no. 3; Nimes 228), published as Amandry et al. (1989) no. 45. All three are well struck and have good preservation of detail; the Psalmodi coin is perhaps somewhat less worn than the other two. The ambiguity of the lettering can be seen in the diverse readings found in the publications of the other two examples: MNANASINIZAIVC I VICTORIAICANACCV I CONOZ (Lenormant 1853: 311; Belfort 1894: 37), DNANASTAIVSPAVC I VICTORIAIC////// I CONOB (Tomasini 1964: 199), DN ANASTASIS PAVC I VICTORIA [ ]ACCA I CONOB (Lafaurie in Amandry et al. 1989: 35). NUMISMATIC CONTEXT Pseudo-imperial tremisses, produced by many mints in several king- doms over a period of about a century and a half, have been resistant to classification due to their diversity and lack of explicit statement of mint or issuing authority. In the absence of more explicit criteria, study has been based primarily on stylistic resemblances and relation- 66 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon ships, supplemented where possible by the evidence that hoards provide for date and provenance. Some fairly clear general categories can be defined on the basis of reverse type: for example, the Cross in Wreath reverse is early and associated with the Visigoths and Suevians, whereas the Victory with Globe and Cross reverse is associ- ated with the Ostrogoths and northern Prankish regions (Tomasini 1961; Grierson and Blackburn 1986). The Victory with Palm and Wreath (VPW) type, to which the subject of this article belongs, presents the most difficulties. It appears to have been issued under Ostrogothic, Visigothic, Burgundian, and Prankish auspices at the least, in Italy, France, and the Iberian peninsula, for much of the dura- tion of the sixth century. It occurs in a confusing welter of stylistic variants for which the most detailed arrangement is that of Tomasini (1964); the types found in the Iberian peninsula have also been classi- fied by Reinhart (1940-41). The VPW scries is thought to have begun perhaps around 509 with a group of tremisses attributed by Wroth (1911) to the Rome mint under Theoderic (Tomasini 1964; Grierson and Blackburn 1986: 35). The engraving on this issue is close to (or better than) the standard of imperial issues, with minor differences such as some stytization of the draperv on the obverse bust, resulting in a somewhat more two-dimen- sional appearance. As coins from this tradition came to be copied in the mints of Gaul and Spain, various innovations appeared. The rapid stylistic evolution of this series suggests that dies were generally cut using recent examples as models, rather than being based on older or more stable exemplars. As a result, stylistic change tends to take the form of accumulation of successive "mutations" over time. Therefore, the affinities of coin types in this series can be esti- mated according to the innovations that they share.1 The coin from Psalmodi has several derived features relative to the presumed ancestral type: apart from idiosyncratic features (such as the 1 This simple picture could be complicated, of course, if a die-cutler used two different coins as models for the same die, as may often have occurred. It is even conceivable that the obverse legend on the coin presented here could have resulted from attempting to copy two models, one in the name of Anastasius and one in the name of Justin. A Sixth-Century Tremissis from Psalmodi 67 hook-shaped line in the drapery on the obverse bust), the most notable is the Victory on the reverse, whose flaring skirt has turned into streamers on the right and a thick tail-like appendage on the left. The blundered lettering may also be considered a derived feature. On the other hand, various other innovations that occur on pseudo-imperial tremisses of the early sixth century are absent, such as an elongated neck, simplified delineation of the face, or a pectoral cross on the obverse and a monogram or a "stick-figure" rendering of the Victory on the reverse. Tomasini attributes his no. 122 to his group A6, which he considers to be probably Burgundian, on the basis of stylistic resemblance to group A5, which contains coins generally accepted as Burgundian issues (1964: 96). However, as Lafaurie (1966) has pointed out, it does not fit Tomasini's definition of the type. Although the obverse type is fairly close to the ancestral type, like many Burgundian issues (as well as other early VPW tremisses that are not considered to be Burgun- dian), the derived features of the reverse type are associated primarily with what is considered to be Visigothic coinage rather than what is thought to be Burgundian coinage (typically characterized by a simpli- fied but clearly drawn long skirt on the Victory, for example). This does not mean, however, that the coin was necessarily minted under Visigothic auspices. In fact, coins of this general appearance, with a conservative obverse and a moderately distorted Victory on the reverse, have been attributed to the Franks by Lafaurie (1968, 1983: e.g., nos. 56-60).2 However, considering the frequently changing political boundaries and weak administrative control typical of this period, attribution to kingdoms may not be the most useful approach to classifying this series. Broad regional groupings, as suggested by Grierson and Blackburn (1986: 110), may provide a more useful starting point for future progress. Regardless of who authorized them, the coins with conservative obverse and moderately stylized Victory are clearly associated with what is today southern France: for example, a majority of such specimens in Belforl (1894) are referenced to Robert Including the one in Nimes struck from the same dies as the Psalmodi coin (Amandry et al. 1989: no. 45). 08 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon (1879), a work devoted Lo coins Lhat Robert believed to have been found in (or otherwise associated with) Languedoc. Not only attribution but also detailed study of the function and chronology of these coins is hampered by the lack of any known archaeological context for most examples and by the paucity of wcll- documenlcd hoards. The hoards that are most relevant by date and location to the context of the coin described here arc those of Roujan (c. 520, Herault: Dhenin and Landcs 1991, 1995-90), Gourdon (c. 530, Saone-et-Loire: partially reconstructed in Lafauric 1958) and Alisc- Sainte-Reine (c. 550, Cote-d'Or: partially reconstructed in Lafaurie 1983), and Vivicrs (c. 570-80, Ardeche: Lafaurie and Morrisson 1987) and Var (c. 570-80, Van Lafaurie and Morrisson 1987), both dated by Lafauric to c. 570-80 but containing mostly earlier coins. The Roujan hoard, found between Beziers and Montpellier and dating to the reign of Justin I, contained twenty-four tremisses as well as four solidi. One of the tremisses is of distinctively Ostrogothic type (not VPW); of the remaining twenty-three, Dhenin attributes one in the name of Anastasius to the Visigoths, and of the others, all in the name of Justin, one to the Burgundians, nine to the Visigoths, and twelve to the Franks (Dhenin and Landes 1995-96). Although some of the specific attributions may be controversial, it is noteworthy that this hoard found in the heart of Visigothic Scptimania included not only a Byzantine solidus and an Ostrogothic tremissis, but also a large number of tremisses that do not have the derived characteristics (pectoral cross, in particular) shared by most Visigothic tremisses minted in the name of Justin. In fact, several of the pieces arc more conservative in design than the Psalmodi specimen, even though they were minted in the name of Justin. It is also noteworthy that this hoard, though probably formed early in Justin's short reign, is composed mostly of coins in the name of Justin rather than Anasta- sius, suggesting (if, as the diverse attributions suggest, the hoard was formed from circulating coinage) that the turnover of types in circula- tion was quite rapid. The Gourdon and Alise-Sainte-Reine hoards, both found in Bur- gundy in the nineteenth century, dispersed without having been ad- equately recorded, and subsequently studied by Lafaurie (1958, 1983), present somewhat different patterns. The Gourdon hoard appears to A Sixth-Century Tremissis from Psalmodi 69 have consisted mostly of coins from Burgundian sources, with a few others, such as two fifth-century East Roman solidi and a Prankish tremissis in the name of Justinian that was probably associated with this hoard (Lafaurie 1958: 64, 73-75). This suggests a circulation pattern with a greater emphasis on political boundaries. The Alise- Sainte-Reine hoard, on the other hand, is very diverse; the recon- structed portion includes significant numbers of coins attributed to the Visigoths and Burgundians and smaller numbers of Ostrogothic and Imperial coins, in addition to the majority attributed to the Franks. Both the Gourdon hoard and the Alise-Sainte-Reine hoard contained a significant proportion of pseudo-imperial tremisses in the name of Anastasius, even though they were later than the Roujan hoard. The Viviers hoard from the middle Rhone valley, composed mostly of solidi rather than tremisses, follows the same pattern as that of Alise-Sainte-Reine, with a mixture of imperial, Ostrogothic, Prankish, and Visigothic types, including many in the name of Anastasius and Justin I (as well as earlier imperial issues) in a hoard dating to the reign of Justin II (Lafaurie and Morrisson 1987: 77-80). A smaller hoard found somewhere in the Var is very similar in composition (Lafaurie and Morrisson 1987: 75-76). It appears from the hoard evidence that tremisses circulated fairly freely, without much regard to political boundaries (too little is known about the Gourdon hoard for one to be certain that it contra- dicted this pattern). The preponderance of the evidence suggests that tremisses could remain in circulation for several decades during this time; the Roujan hoard appears to be exceptional, perhaps having been formed in a different manner. These conclusions add little to our knowledge about the tremissis from Psalmodi as an individual object: if coins of different origins circulated freely, there is little basis for attrib- uting the Psalmodi piece to a particular kingdom, and if tremisses circulated for several decades, the relatively unworn condition of the coin is the only evidence suggesting deposition early in the sixth century. Nevertheless, by indicating the general patterns of circulation, the hoard evidence provides a valuable context for understanding what the functional significance of this artifact may have been. 70 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT As mentioned, Lhe coin was found while cleaning off the face of an earlier excavation. It came from a layer (Context 88.102.26) that contained mostly sixth-century artifacts, but the stratigraphic position of the layer is directly between a mid-sixth-century pit and Lhe floor preparation for the twelfth-century church, so it could have been deposited there anytime between those dales. It is very unusual to find gold coins as stray site finds; their value makes casual loss or discard highly unlikely. Most sixth-century tremisses are found in hoards or in graves; of the few other finds with documented prove- niences, most either lack stratigraphic associations (Bonifay el al. 1998: 106) or are thought to be from disturbed graves (Lafaurie 1970). The area in which the Psalmodi coin was found was used for burials from late antiquity to the twelfth century and then was heavily disturbed by the construction of the church in the late twelfth century. Therefore it is possible that this coin was originally deposited in a grave but was subsequently redeposited by the digging of a later grave or by construction activity. The possibility that it was found in an intact sixth-century deposit should not be excluded, though; Goury (1997) has reported finding a tremissis in the name of Anastasius in a pit fill associated with refuse from craft production and sixth-century pottery. ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE The discovery of this coin at Psalmodi may hold considerable impor- tance for the economic status of the site and deserves further commen- tary. The interpretive weight which this piece can bear is, of course, limited by the relative lack of both material and textual evidence, but, as will be seen, the two can be usefully combined at Psalmodi. Among the uncertainties is the purchasing power of the coin under consideration. Durliat has pointed out that an estate of 50 solidi is the generally accepted lowest limit for a person to be considered of means in the late Roman and early medieval world (1990: 297). Using A Sixth-Century Tremissis from Psalmodi 71 predominantly eastern evidence he has also established broad price ranges for certain commodities (Durliat 1987:315). For example, by Durliat's calculations one solidus (i.e., three tremisses) could purchase between 12 and 68 liters of olive oil depending on quality. For the same amount one could acquire 87 liters of wine suitable to serve to soldiers or lesser bureaucrats. The laws found in the Visigothic forum ludicum, issued in the sevenLh century, also help to establish the purchasing power of gold (e.g., Rarral i Altet 1976: 72-74). The theft of a cow is punishable by payment of two tremisses, that of a calf only by one. The narrative history of Gregory of Tours also makes occasional reference to the use of gold coins in the late sixth century (Stamm 1982/81). The Gallo-Roman aristocrat Mummolus extracted "multa nummismati auri milia" from Saxon raiders (HF 4.42). In a more specific reference, the Syrian merchant Eufronius offered 200 "aureos" to the same Mummolus so that the aristocrat would not press his demands to see a relic in the foreigner's possession (HF 7.31). At the low end, Gregory relates that during the famine of 585 merchants sold "modium annonae aut semodiuni vini uno triante." (HF 7.45) These numbers are not cited as direct evidence of the purchasing power of the Psalmodi tremissis but rather as a rough indicator. Any gold coin had considerable value, but a tremissis by itself is in no way an indi- cator of great wealth. The total supply of gold in the region has also been roughly assessed. The calculations of Depeyrot (1996: 29, 33-35) show a decrease in total gold supply following a peak in the late fourth century as well as decreasing relative share of that supply in the western Mediterranean. His calculations for the sixth and seventh centuries in France (1994: 96-102) show relative stability in total supply but at a dramatically reduced level. These conclusions are complemented by Banaji's study of sixth-century hoards (1996). While it is true that determining the purchasing power and supply of gold remains a largely qualitative exercise, even the limited extent to which the problems can be approached indicates that the Psalmodi piece can indicate the presence of some individuals of relative wealth at the settlement. Expressing the purchasing power of this tremissis in terms of oil and wine is useful because the ceramic record at Psalmodi makes clear that 72 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon the sixth century inhabitants had ready access to both. The archaeo- logical deposits contemporaneous with the coin are distinguished by the presence of imported amphora sherds that would have carried oil and wine from North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, and for the presence of imported coarse wares and table wares that are further- evidence of the site's relative prosperity and access to long-distance exchange networks. The pottery from the deposit in which the tremissis was found (PS88.102.026) numbered only 37 sherds and includes substantially later material. A single partially preserved rim of a Keay 62a North African amphora datable to the sixth century Al) is nonetheless notable. A sixth-century pit filled with domestic refuse only a few meters east of the findspot of the tremissis did, however, produce a ceramic assemblage large enough to help elucidate the economic circumstances of Psalmodi in the sixth century. Contexts PS88.102.021 and PS88.102.028 form the recorded portions of a pit that produced a total of 262 sherds weighing just under 1 kilograms. This pit is remarkable for the diver- sity of imported ceramics that it produced. Discounting the 16 residual and unidentified sherds, imports make up 52% of the deposit by sherd count and fully 74.8% by weight. The imbalance is caused by the rela- tively large size of the individual North African amphora sherds. This is not the venue in which to present the ceramics from this deposit in detail, but the highlights are relevant. North African prod- ucts are the most common ceramic imports in this pit and among sixth-century deposits at the site generally. African Red-Slip, the most common category of fine ware in the Western Mediterranean at this time, is represented by fourteen sherds, including three rims whose chronological ranges overlap in the second half of the sixth century: a Hayes 91d flanged bowl, a Hayes 104a plate, and a Hayes 87c plate. (Hayes 1972, Py 1993) North African amphoras are present only as body sherds, but the substantial number and weight—64 sherds and 2.1 kilograms respectively—indicate the continued importation of food- stuffs from that region during the sixth century. Elsewhere at the site, diagnostic fragments of Keay 55, Keay 62, and Keay 61 amphoras show that this was a regular feature of the economy of the site from the late fifth century through the sixth and possibly info the seventh (Keay 1998). A Sixtii-Centiry Tremissis from Psalmodi 73 In addition to the North African products, which are common al many sites in the region, the pit also produced imports from the Eastern Mediterranean. While these are well known in southern France, they are not. nearly so common as the African products, partic- ularly on smaller sites. The main exporting regions represented in Pit 88.102.24/28 are the Aegean, the Cilician coast of Asia Minor, and ancient Palestine. From the Aegean come two categories of vessel, the globular amphora with grooved upper body known as Late Roman Amphora 2 and the cooking pot known in France as Com-Mcdil 5. Late Roman Amphora 1, probably a product of the Cilician coast and the only import from eastern Asia Minor in this pit, is represented by one rim and eleven body sherds. Like the Aegean material, the imported ceramics from ancient Pales- tine include both amphora and coarse ware forms. Late Roman Amphora 4 carried the wine for svhich Gaza was famous in Late Antiq- uity. It is widely exported to the west from the fourth through seventh centuries and is represented in Pit PS88.102.24/28 by one base and seven body sherds. Less common on Western Mediterranean sites is the coarse ware form known in France as Corn-Medit 4, Pit PS88.102.24/28 produced a rim/handle as well as a body sherd of this form. Taken by themselves imported ceramics arc an uncertain indicator of wealth. There should be no a priori assumption that ARS and the imported wine and oil carried by the amphoras found on the site are luxury items, though scholars have certainly argued that this is the case (Lebecq 1997: 73). For the imported wine at least there is written evidence that matches quite well with the ceramic record. Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks and his Glory of the Confessors relates two episodes that do suggest that Gaza wine was held in high esteem. He describes the murder of an out-of-favor royal official after he had sent his servants away to fetch wines, among them Gaza, which he thought would seal his friendship with the king's emissary (HF 7.29). Gregory also writes of a sixth-century woman of senatorial family who makes a regular donation of Gaza wine to the Church of St. Mary in Lyon in memory of her dead husband (GC 64-65). After one visit a subdeacon replaces the wine with vinegar, but the switch is exposed when the pious widow is miraculously visited by the dead man's ghost. 71 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon These and other anecdotes suggest that imported wine did have a special status in the society of southern France; it could mark toasts Of friendship and was the object of theft. II is important to note, however, that the widow of Lyon came to church "semper sextarium Gazeti vini praebens". This indicates that she did not have trouble acquiring it, or at least that it seemed reasonable to Gregory as narrator of the story that a pious widow would have ready access to one of the finest wines of the time. While this small observation of Gregory's opens the door for assessing the relative value of imports in southern France, it is the archaeological evidence that makes the point. Archaeological investigation at urban sites and at smaller rural settlements has shown that imported ceramics such as those found at Psalmodi are common in southern France but are not universal. Marseille was the largest city in southern France at this time and as such had access to an even wider range of imports than found at Psal- modi. Throughout the sixth century North African arnphoras, table wares, and coarse wares continued to enter its port and arc found in deposits throughout the city. In contrast to the abundance at Marseille, the sixth century is not well represented at Nimcs (Monteil 1999: 437-438), the city closest to Psalmodi. Excavations on the Rue de Sauve and near the Palais de Justice revealed deposits tentatively dated lo the sixth century that contained a small number of North African arnphoras and finewares (Leenhardt ct al. 1993). Many rural sites have also produced substantial numbers of sixth- century ceramic imports. The hilltop site of Saint-Blaise, near the coast of the Mediterranean and approximately 20 km west of Marseille, ranked as a major settlement in the pre-Roman period but saw only limited use under the empire (Demians d'Archimbaud 1994). In the fifth and sixth centuries the site saw multiple periods of intense construction and occupation. These were accompanied by ready access to imported products from North Africa, Italy, and the main exporting regions of the Eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, in the sixth century African Red-Slip makes up a greater share of the fineware assemblage than at Marseille. At Saint-Propicc, another hill-top site, a brief occu- pation in the late fifth or early sixth century is typified by a large number of African Red-Slip vessels—over 20% of the total fine ware assemblage—and a small number of eastern Mediterranean products A Sixth-Century Tremissis from Psalmodi 75 (Boixadera 1987). Closer to Psalmodi, excavations of the late Roman and early medieval levels of the small farm site at Dassargues have revealed a relatively impoverished site in comparison to Psalmodi but one which in the fifth and sixth centuries had access lo African Red- Slip as well as to African and Eastern Mediterranean arnphoras (Gamier et al. 1995). In addition to these three secular sites, Maguelone provides an important comparison for Psalmodi. It is also an insular site with late antique origins that developed into a substantial religious establish- ment, which saw its greatest period of prosperity in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A bishop is first recorded there in the late sixth century, and recent excavations in a mortuary church lo the east of the standing Romanesque structure have revealed the prosperity of the site in the early Middle Ages (Martin 1976; Paya 1996; Raynaud 2001: 259). The limited ceramic information available from earlier work shows that the site, like Psalmodi, had at least some access to imporlcd ceramics in the sixth century. These four sites, then, firmly show that imports are not unusual on rural sites in southern France. Indeed, this assessment is confirmed in the growing number of regional surveys which now regularly emphasize the economic dynamism of the post-Roman countryside (e.g., Raynaud 1996, 2001; Tremcnt 2001). The imported ceramic record is a clear indicator of this continued economic activity but one that diminished towards the end of the century. The distribution of regional wares, which is beyond the scope of this article, suggest that this activity persisted, even if at a reduced level, into the seventh century (Leenhardt et al. 1993). This very brief overview of a few of the well-published urban and rural sites in southern France contemporaneous with the Psalmodi tremissis is intended to place that site in its regional contexL Balance is the key here. Psalmodi's preferential access to imports in comparison to rural sites such as Dassargues suggests relative wealth, even though the presence of imports on other sites indicates that they arc by no means unattainable luxuries. Psalmodi is also marked out by the pre- sence of the tremissis. At the risk of making a circular argument, the exceptional combination of the coin and its contemporary ceramics in a rural context suggest a site of elevated wealth. 76 Sebastian Heath and David Yoon Because this is one of the few tremisses found during excavation, the Psalmodi piece cannot by itself contribute much to our understanding of the circulation of these coins. This is particularly true given that it is likely that the coin was originally deposited in a burial and is not evidence of purely economic use. That said, the discover)' of this coin on a small rural site certainly expands the range of this denomination, as does the roughly contemporary piece from the Camp de Cesar (Goury 1997). The nature of the early settlement at Psalmodi is currently uncer- tain, but the trcmissis may provide a link to its later history. The later documentary sources indicate that Psalmodi was a monastic establishment by the late seventh century and there was a Carolingian church on the island by the ninth century (Dodds 1977; Dodds et al. 1989). It is uncertain, however, at what point the site became home to an explicitly Christian community. Young and Carter-Young (1988) have previously suggested that the material evidence points to early monasticism. This coin, together wiLh the ceramic evidence, suggests a relatively wealthy site. Lerins, the more famous insular monastery in eastern Provence, was the recipient of substantial aristocratic patronage (Klingshirn 1994: 23), and the general tendency of southern Gallic aristocrats to replicate their luxurious lifestyle in monastic settings has been discussed by Van Dam (1993: Ch. 1). The combined evidence of coin and ceramics, then, could be taken either as evidence of an early start for Psalmodi's religious life or as an indicator of a social and economic context that later contributed to monastic use. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Jean-Louis Foncelle, the current owner of the site, and Brooks Stoddard, director of the Williams College excavations at Psal- modi, for the opportunity to publish this coin. We also thank Bailey Young for clarifying the circumstances and location in which it was found, the Musee Archeologique Uenri-Prades in Lattcs for photo- graphing it, and Michel Amandry for confirming the die-identify with the Bibliotheque Nationale specimens and for giving permission to reproduce images of the BN and Nimes specimens. A Sixth-Century Tremissis from Psalmodi 77 REFERENCES Amandry, M., CI. Brenot, M. Dhenin, J. Lafaurie, and C. Morrisson. 1989. 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