The Augustan coins from Bourbonne-les-Bains (Haute-Marne). A mathematical approach to dating a coin assemblage

One of the largest Augustan coin deposits, ever discovered, was found in 1 874/75 in the thermal waters of the Puisard Romain at Bourbonne-les-Bains. It is argued that this assemblage of votive offerings, which has largely escaped the notice of the wider academic community, constitutes evidence for an army spa, possibly the earliest spa outside the Mediterranean provinces, and for a military base nearby. As it had been widely accepted that no troops were left in the hinterland during the Germanic Wars of Augustus, this is of major interest for the political history of Gaul and Germany. The emphasis in this paper, is, however, not on the historical aspects of this discovery, ' but on the precise dating of the phase of deposition, which is the precondition for any historical interpretation. Mathematical calculations as well as more conventional methods are employed to date the deposit. It is suggested that deposition started around 9 ВС and that it came to an end around AD 1.