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Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

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Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#121

Post by usrnm »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #115
hypendev wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a similar story, but I was playing on the beach. There was a mound right next to it and I would love to play there, and the mound had some funny stones. One of them was square with something painted on it, I was fascinated by romans so I annoyed my parents with "I found a mosaic!" and took it with me. Turns out, years later, they excavated a roman villa there. Funnily enough, the same beach has roman villas, d…

As the saying goes, "location location location". Must have been a pretty strategically important beach.

Especially for dinosaurs

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#122

Post by osidjqjdjwj »

angst_ridden wrote: post #92
Clamchop wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

La Brea tarpits

The the tar tar pits. (La Brea means "the tar"). A bit west of downtown, too, but I'm an annoying pedant.

Then it’s actually “The tar tar pits”. ;)

Sounds kinda like a Mario 64 stage.

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#123

Post by dd8601fn »

WalterGR wrote: post #104
eszed wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they're still a pain to spend, because too many people refuse to believe they're real money. Or else don't want to take them because there isn't a slot in their cash drawer. I inherited a couple of bundles from my dad last year (he made $2 bills his "thing", much like Woz, because he enjoyed arguing with cashiers), and exchanged them all at the bank for "real money".

> I inherited a couple of bundles from my dad last year (he made $2 bills his "thing", much like Woz, because he enjoyed arguing with cashiers) For the unaware, Steve Wozniak buys sheets of uncut $2 bills and spends them. He’ll walk into a location and tear off a $2 bill like a serrated coupon. There’s probably a better link but this was at hand: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/steve-wozniak-2-dollar-bil...

Every time I picture him doing that, I laugh.

It’s hard not to love that guy.

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#124

Post by HelloMcFly »

SoftTalker wrote: post #22
hecturchi wrote: post #20

As a child I was walking down the street and kicked something by chance that sounded metallic. 150 year old coin, irrc. Just there on the asphalt next to the sidewalk. Unfortunately bronze, with trimmed edges, common mint and worth very little. But if you tell me someone just stumbles onto and old coin in the street just lime that, I pretty much believe it.

When I was a teenager I was working at McDonalds and someone came in and paid for a meal using old US Silver Certificate bills. Some people just are careless and don't notice old or unusual things.

I worked as a part-time bank teller from age 1999-2007 (not continuously). Over that time the volume of silver certificates and other special currency coming in dropped DRAMATICALLY. From 1999-2003 I'd say I would see those bills come in about every other month; I don't think I saw a single one in the final two years I worked the job.

I "purchased" (i.e., exchanged my own money for) every bill and coin that came in. And before anyone makes any assumptions, I had permission from the bank manager.

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#125

Post by moralestapia »

dd8601fn wrote: post #123
WalterGR wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I inherited a couple of bundles from my dad last year (he made $2 bills his "thing", much like Woz, because he enjoyed arguing with cashiers) For the unaware, Steve Wozniak buys sheets of uncut $2 bills and spends them. He’ll walk into a location and tear off a $2 bill like a serrated coupon. There’s probably a better link but this was at hand: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/steve-wozniak-2-dollar-bil...

Every time I picture him doing that, I laugh. It’s hard not to love that guy.

It's so crazy particularly because it's not just some random dude but one of the co-founders of Apple[1] (for those unaware)!

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#126

Post by xp84 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #100
eszed wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And they're still a pain to spend, because too many people refuse to believe they're real money. Or else don't want to take them because there isn't a slot in their cash drawer. I inherited a couple of bundles from my dad last year (he made $2 bills his "thing", much like Woz, because he enjoyed arguing with cashiers), and exchanged them all at the bank for "real money".

Many years ago a friend of mine used to tip bartenders and servers with dollar coins (a dollar tip on a drink was good at the time). They remembered him for that and he got better service even though it was probably a bit of a PITA for them to deal with the coins. $2 bills could probaby be used in a similar fashion.

Or at the strip club

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#127

Post by chmod775 »

exitb wrote: post #4
lordleft wrote: post #2

I knew vaguely that Troy had many layers of settlement, but I didn't realize that Troy had an extensive life in antiquity that extended into the classical Greek age (Post-Bronze Age) and Early Roman Age. It's funny to think of Roman and Greek Tourists visiting Troy VIII in 300 BC.

Was there anything resembling tourism in 300 BC?

For example the great pyramids were already a popular "tourist" destination hundreds of years before christ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#Historio...

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#128

Post by xp84 »

tomcam wrote: post #98
jethkl wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you tell me someone just stumbles onto and old coin... I found a bill from the Weimar hyperinflation era. Its face value was several billion (Milliarden). Its only value was as a curiosity.

Who doesn’t miss the days when a Milliarden was worth something?

It was probably hours not days, in that case!

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#129

Post by versteegen »

lostlogin wrote: post #94
tsoukase wrote: post #88

Most probably the artifact was transferred there in modern times. Once I had found a 2nf century AD Roman coin while playing outside, worth about 200E. If they were transfered in their corresponding time, they would be burried many metres beneath earth surface.

The first link in the article is better than the actual article. They don’t think it a modern loss. https://greekreporter.com/2026/04/16/ancient-greek-coin-troy...

Even more detail in the DW article:

""" Fortunately, the boy was very precise and showed me exactly where he found it on a map. Then we went into our findings registration and found that this agricultural site was actually a well-known place," Henker explained.

Berlin's Museum for Pre- and Early History has been systematically conducting surveys on empty land in Berlin since the 1950s to determine where possible excavation sites might be.

In this particular spot, explains Henker, the upper layers of the soil were surveyed in the 1950s and 70s and again later. "Every time, they discovered a few distinct finds that made them say 'ok, there's probably more in the ground here'."

Over the years, fragments of ceramics, Slavonic-era knives and a bronze button have been unearthed on the site, as well as burnt human bones, leading researchers to conclude that this are was used as a burial ground dating as far back as the early Iron Age — and has been in use throughout the centuries. """

https://www.dw.com/en/teen-discovers-first-ancient-greek-art...

Re: Middle schooler finds coin from Troy in Berlin

#130

Post by wahern »

alephnerd wrote: post #5
lordleft wrote: post #2

I knew vaguely that Troy had many layers of settlement, but I didn't realize that Troy had an extensive life in antiquity that extended into the classical Greek age (Post-Bronze Age) and Early Roman Age. It's funny to think of Roman and Greek Tourists visiting Troy VIII in 300 BC.

Don't underestimate ancient globalization. Heck, Inuit had Chinese bronze artifacts [0] well before European contact (basically 4,000 miles). [0] - https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/archive/releases/2016/Q2/old...

IIRC, the Inuit reached North America from the West right about the time the Vikings reached it from the East, but they managed to colonize and stay, displacing the native inhabitants and eventually spreading to Greenland, again displacing the natives. Their technological advantages were their kayaks and hunting strategies, so presumably the displacement was less violent.
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