Our projects
Research at ACANS
ACANS is renowned for our interdisciplinary approach to the study of numismatics. Using a blend of scientific, archaeological, and historical methodologies, our researchers consistently produce wide-reaching publications that advance the study of ancient numismatics.
Our projects benefit from the Centre’s extensive international research network and robust connections with leading Australian scientific bodies, including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and Macquarie University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering.
The ancient incuse coinage of South Italy: a joint study between ACANS and ANSTO
In collaboration with scientists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), researchers from ACANS are reconstructing the 2,500-year-old techniques used to create the distinctive incuse coins of Metapontum in South Italy. ANSTO has carried out non-invasive neutron analysis on specimens from the Centre’s Gale Collection of South Italian coins in the hopes of revealing minting techniques lost to time.
ACANS’ world-leading collection and strong research ethos, coupled with the facilities and knowledge of ANSTO, have been instrumental in uncovering the previously undocumented techniques used to mint some of the world’s earliest coinage.
Key Partners
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Dr Floriana Salvemini, Dr Vadimir Luzin, Mr Scott Olsen), Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (A/Professor Kenneth Sheedy).
Early Athenian coinage and the 'Spring of Silver' project
Funded by the Australian Research Council, the Spring of Silver project is a groundbreaking exploration into the silver (especially that from local mines at Laurion) used to mint archaic Athenian coins, some of the most recognisable coins in the world. Led by a team of historians, archaeologists, and scientists from ACANS, Macquarie’s Faculty of Science and Engineering, and the Numismatic Museum of Athens, the project is a first-of-its-kind study that combines traditional numismatic methodologies with contemporary scientific analysis such as X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis.
The project presents the first extensive corpus of archaic Athenian coins in more than a century, bringing together all known specimens from museums and collections across the globe to uncover the origins of Athens’ earliest coins.
Key Partners
Numismatic Museum of Athens, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport (Dr George Kakavas), Faculty of Science and Engineering (Professor Damian Gore), Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (A/Professor Kenneth Sheedy), Australian Catholic University (Dr Gil Davis).
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Australia
The Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum (SNG) project is an international project that strives to publish all ancient Greek coins in public and private collections for the advancement of the study of numismatics.
In 2008, Associate Professor Kenneth Sheedy – director of ACANS and secretary of the SNG Australia committee – published the first ever Australian SNG volume since the project’s commencement in 1930. Volume I of the SNG Australia presents an extensive catalogue of the 1,267 coins from ACANS’ Gale Collection of South Italian coins. ACANS continues to administer the SNG Australia project, with Volume II currently in preparation and scoped to publish the combined Greek collections of other museums in Australia.
Key Partners
A project of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Union Académique Internationale. Published by the International Numismatic Council.
The Assertion of State Identity through Coinage in the Southern Levant during the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods
ACANS is leading a significant new investigation into the use of coinage for the creation, communication, and assertion of state identity in the ancient Southern Levant. By tracing the broad evolution of iconography throughout the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman eras, this project will enrich our understanding of the way coinage was used as an expression and assertion of identity and society in the Southern Levant. The project will result in the creation of a significant collection of Southern Levantine coinages at ACANS for use as both as teaching aid and in future research.
Key Partners
Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (A/Professor Kenneth Sheedy, Dr Peter Edwell, A/Professor Eva Anagnostou), Australian Catholic University (Dr Michael Theophilos, Dr Gil Davis).
