A hoard of denarii and antoniniani from the village of Klisurica near Prokuplje (southern Serbia)

Abstract

The Klisurica hoard was discovered in 1986 in the village of the same name, situated on the Grebac mountain pass, on the southern slope of Mali Jastrebac, near Prokuplje. It consists of 1655 denarii and antoniniani, spanning the period from Vespasian to Trajan Decius. Numerous archaeological sites from the Roman period have been registered on the southern side of the Jastrebac massif and in the Toplica region, while the remains of a villa rustica to the south of the Klisurica village are the most important regarding our find. One of the most important central Balkan routes, the Lissus – Naissus – Ratiaria, which connected the Adriatic and the Black seas, used to pass this way. Considering the position of the site and conditions in the surrounding area, the owners of the villa and its inhabitants were undoubtedly farmers and cattle breeders, and were most probably the owners of the coin hoard.