Bent, broken and pierced: The assemblage of mutilated coins from Piercebridge, County Durham in a Romano-British context.

Invariably the clipping or cutting of Roman coinage found in Britain has been interpreted within an economic framework. However, the presence of cut coins at some temple sites has been noted apparently indicating that in certain circumstances the phenomenon may have ritual or religious resonances. This paper uses the coin assemblage recovered from the River Tees at Piercebridge, Co. Durham, UK to explore this hypothesis further. It suggests that fragmentation theory and the concept of ‘ritual killing’ may help numismatists understand coin cutting, mutilation and piercing. It also advocates for the development of standardized recording terminology for the treatment of coinage so that the phenomenon can be studied not only in Britain but across the Roman Empire