# When is an owl not an owl? An analysis of Attic tetradrachms circulating in the southern Levant in the late fifth and fourth centuries BCE

Liesel Gentelli, Gillan Davis, Francis Albarède, Janne Blichtert-Toft, Haim Gitler

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Liesel Gentelli, Gillan Davis, Francis Albarède, Janne Blichtert-Toft, Haim Gitler. When is an owl not an owl? An analysis of Attic tetradrachms circulating in the southern Levant in the late fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2026, 70, pp.105634. 10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105634. hal-05507042

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# When is an owl not an owl? An analysis of Attic tetradrachms circulating in the southern Levant in the late fifth and fourth centuries BCE

Liesel Gentelli<sup>a, *, †</sup>, Gillan Davis<sup>b, ‡</sup>, Francis Albarède<sup>a</sup>, Janne Blichert-Toft<sup>a</sup>, Haim Gitler<sup>c</sup>

## ABSTRACT

This article, dedicated to the memory of the late Prof. John H. Kroll, focuses on late fifth century BCE Athenian-style tetradrachms found in the southern Levant, to shed new light on whether they are genuine Athenian issues or local imitations. To address this important yet vexed historical question, we analysed the Pb isotope compositions of 22 coins from ten controlled archaeological excavations in Israel and compared them against the ~ 7,000 galena samples in the Lyon Pb isotope database. Nineteen of the coins are of the “three-quarter profile eye” variety conventionally dated mid to late fifth century BCE. We found that they match Attic or Athenian-controlled silver sources, suggesting they are authentic Athenian issues and not imitations as some of them were originally categorised. We argue that these coins likely entered the Western Asian money supply during Athens’ massive naval campaigns in the eastern Aegean in the third and final phase of the Peloponnesian War, and that the series should be refined to end with the city’s defeat and loss of silver sources in 404 BCE. The fact that three of the coins are plated supports the contention that they were part of the series minted when Athens was under extreme financial duress. The remaining two coins are of the *pi*-style series struck in the early 340 s BCE, as proposed by John H. Kroll (personal communication and cf. also Flament, 2023). The Pb isotope data indicate that our examples were not struck from Athenian silver casting doubt on the current theory that they were restruck Attic coins. These overall findings call for a reassessment of monetary sources, coin circulation, and local minting in the fourth century BCE in the southern Levant. This study also highlights the need for independent archaeological dating beyond reliance upon numismatic typology.

## 1. Introduction

The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether Attic-style tetradrachms circulating in the southern Levant in the late fifth and fourth centuries BCE were ‘Eastern imitations’ as has conventionally believed based on stylistic grounds or genuine Attic issues. The question has important numismatic, historical, and economic implications for Athens and the southern Levant, especially for understanding monetary sources, coin circulation, and local minting in the Mediterranean in the century following the Peloponnesian War. It also affects our understanding of chronology as loci within archaeological sites are frequently dated by coin finds.

Genuine Athenian ‘owl’ type coins featured the goddess Athena on the obverse and an owl and Greek legend AΘE – a standard abbreviation of the ethnic descriptor: ‘[coin of the] Athenians’ – on the reverse (Fig. 1).

Circulation of owls across the southern Levant and the Near East is attested by a dual corpus of evidence: stratified archaeological finds and material surfaced via the antiquities market. Single finds and hoards recovered through controlled archaeological excavations are invaluable,

as they provide a secure, verified provenience. In contrast, a significant volume of specimens and hoards has emerged through the trade of antiquities. While these pieces contribute to the overall breadth of the material, they frequently arrive with only alleged provenances. Consequently, integrating such unprovenanced material into the regional corpus demands a rigorous, cautious methodology to avoid the risk of misclassification particularly when distinguishing between genuine Athenian issues and local imitations.

Along with these Athenian issues, we find distinctive southern Levantine imitations of Athenian-style tetradrachms which are particularly well-attested in Philistia (Fig. 2). Most of these local issues (tetradrachms [sheqels] of semi-autonomous city-states under the rule of the Persian Empire) include Northwest Semitic inscriptions relating to the minting authorities of Ashkelon and Gaza, or single letter/s which may represent the name of specific individuals. Others are clearly identified as local issues based on their iconographic peculiarities not found in the original Athenian prototypes.

These Philistian tetradrachms [sheqels] are categorised into two main periods: the earliest examples conventionally date from 420 to 405 BCE (Fig. 1, Nos. 1–2, 4–6, 9–10), and subsequent issues date to after the

<footnote><sup>a</sup> Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and CNRS, France</footnote>

<footnote><sup>b</sup> Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia</footnote>

<footnote><sup>c</sup> The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel</footnote>

<footnote>* Corresponding author.</footnote>

<footnote>E-mail address: lagentelli@gmail.com (L. Gentelli).</footnote>
early 340 s BCE (Fig. 1, Nos. 3, 7–8). In addition to these large denominations, Philistia minted numerous Athenian-styled drachms (Rbʻsheqels) as well as smaller denominations obols (m'h) and half obols (half-m'h) which are the most common coin types circulating in the southern Levant in the fourth and early third centuries BCE (Gitler and Tal, 2012, 2017). Athenian-styled issues are also commonly found among the Samarian, Judean, and Edomite autonomous coinages. The issues of these southern Levantine minting authorities are characterised by the use of small, fractional denominations which, combined with modest output and limited range of circulation, makes it likely that they served small-scale, local transactions (van Alfen, 2011).

It has been posited that imitation owls were forerunners to local Philistian types (Gitler and Tal, 2006: 25–26, 67); the owl having no local significance beyond being an emblem of the most widely accepted currency of the period (Gitler et al., 2009; Ponting et al., 2011). Even in Athens, Nikophon's law of 375/4 BCE codified what appears to have been an established fourth century BCE practice that a coin that looked Athenian and had been test cut to check that it was of good metallic value, but was not made in Athens, could remain in circulation alongside authentic Athenian issues (Stroud, 1974). Further, it is worth noting that test cuts were not limited to the examination of silver during commercial transactions, but also as validation from the minting authorities immediately after production (Gitler and Tal, 2019).

## 1.1. Genuine Athenian issues, or Eastern imitations?

Having established clear instances of Athenian-style tetradrachms that are demonstrably local in origin, we must now re-examine the broader corpus of owls circulating within the southern Levant and the Ancient Near East. The central challenge lies in differentiating authentic Athenian issues, minted in Athens, from Athenian-style Eastern imitations produced by regional mints to serve local economic needs.

To demonstrate the purported scale of the distribution of Eastern imitation owls in the southern Levant and the Near East, a recent analysis of Greek coin hoards (550–300 BCE) by Mullins (2025) identified 956 coins across 24 hoards as potential Athenian imitations. Similarly, Mullins documented Athenian-style tetradrachms from the fourth century BCE in Egypt and North Africa, noting their presence in three hoards totalling 6360 coins. However, these figures rely heavily on previous criteria for distinguishing local imitations from authentic Athenian issues classifications that are increasingly subject to academic dispute. While physical evidence, such as the discovery of Athenian-style dies in Egypt (Meadows, 2011; Sheedy and Gore, 2011), confirms that imitation did occur, the broad categorisation applied by Mullins may overstate the prevalence of imitations by misidentifying genuine Athenian currency as local copies.

Coins lacking the additional non-Attic elements have also been claimed to be imitations based on examination of stylistic features. Buttrey, in two brief papers published in the early 1980s (Buttrey, 1982; Buttrey, 1984) examining the Fayum, Egypt, 1934–1935 hoard of 347 owls (Hoover et al., 2010, cf. Flament, 2007: 214), contended that his types X, B, and M were imitative Egyptian production (see also the discussions in van Alfen, 2011: 66–70; Alfen, 2002: 16–20; Alfen, 2004:

54–55). Coins for which claims have been made that they are Eastern imitations have since been identified in Middle Eastern hoards, such as the 1973 Iraq Hoard (van Alfen, 2000: Nos. 59–161), the 1989 Syria Hoard (van Alfen, 2002), and the Bullion Hoard (van Alfen, 2004: Nos. 49–76).

However, Flament and Marchetti (2004) noted that numismatists have often taken the ‘ugly’ style of a coin as evidence for non-Athenian origin (Flament, 2001; Flament, 2003; Flament, 2005; Flament, 2007: 80–82). The owls from the Tel Mikhal hoard, Israel (Ariel, 2006; Fig. 3), serve as a perfect example since nine out of the eleven coins from this hoard belong to Buttrey’s so called imitative Egyptian production issues, Nos. 1–3 and 10 are Buttrey Style X, Nos. 5, 7–9 are Style M and No. 11 is Style B. Indeed, when first published by Ariel, the coins were identified as imitations based on their stylistic rendering, especially Athena’s portrait. Specific features included the eye shape and size (straighter, parallel, and smaller), an open mouth, a narrow neck and chin, and leaf-like palmettes on the helmet (Ariel, 2006: 74–75).

Other varieties of owls exhibiting ‘roughness in style’ are evident from the inception of the type in Athens, starting with Seltman’s group E minted just prior to the Persian invasion of 480/79 BCE (Sheedy and Gore, 2011) proving that roughness is not a good criterion for determining genuineness. After refining the stylistic indicators of the so-called Eastern imitation owls, and reassessment of individual coins, other numismatists have argued that many examples of coins originally identified as imitations are in fact authentic Athenian issues (Flament, 2005; Flament, 2007; Kroll, 2011a).

## 1.2. Main group of Athenian owls found at controlled archaeological excavations in Israel

The so-called three-quarter profile eye of the issues of this period is rendered as partially frontal but slightly open at the front (Fig. 1). This style appears in the emergency Athenian issues of 407–405 BCE, namely the Athenian gold coin dated to 407/6 BCE (Flament, 2007: 118, Fig. 30) and the silver-plated tetradrachms and drachms of 406/5 BCE (Flament, 2007: 120, Table 3). The emergency gold and fourrée coins are precisely dated by references in Aristophanes in his 405 BCE play, Frogs (Ar. Ranae 718–726; cf. Kroll, 2011a: 6–8), and show what styles were in use at the time but not how long the style was current before and after these dates. Kroll (2011a: 6–12) suggested that comparably styled tetradrachms in silver (i.e., Svoronos, 1923: Pl. 15) presumably date to the last one or two decades of the fifth century BCE, and that the style reappears only after a hiatus from 404 BCE, with the resumption of Athenian silver coinage in c. 393 BCE.

Crucially, the next variety of owl minted in Athens is not found at all in the southern Levant. This variety features a change from a frontal eye to a naturalistically rendered profile eye and is dated from the early 380s BCE according to the find of this type in the Lentini (Sicily) 1957 hoard (Thompson et al., 1973; IGCH 2117; cf. Kroll, 2025). The alpha on the reverse is still at the owl’s eye height, whereas, in the next iteration of owls, known as pi-style issues and dated after the early 340 BCE, the alpha is lowered to the owl’s beak height.

Based on Kroll’s and Flament’s iconographic observations, Gitler

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 1.** The tetradrachm from ‘Athlit depicting Athena with a three-quarter profile eye dated to 440–420 BCE (Flament, 2007: Group II. 47, Pls. XXI.9–13 and XXII: 1–5).</figcaption></figure>
et al. (2009) and Ponting et al. (2011) approached the question of provenance using stylistic interpretation and metallurgical analyses. Both papers examined a hoard of 11 tetradrachms of the three-quarter profile eye variety found at Tel Mikhal (10 of these are reported in this study, cf. Fig. 3), as well as seven additional specimens and two pi-style owls dated after 340 BCE, altogether from eight different archaeological sites in Israel. The coins were analysed for elemental concentrations by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy

(ICP-AES) and lead isotopic compositions by quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS) by Ponting et al. (2011). Both studies concluded that given the stylistic variability of the analysed Athenian-style three-quarter profile eye tetradrachms found at controlled archaeological excavations in Israel, it can be assumed that they are representative of the owls circulating in the Near East in Achaemenid times. This led the authors to suggest that the Eastern imitation of Athenian tetradrachms was much more limited than

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 2.** Examples of Philistian Athenian-styled imitation owls, with Northwest Semitic letters between the owl and the ethnicon A/OE in the lower field of the reverse, as well as issues with Egyptian and Achaemenid influence. 1. Gitler and Tal, 2006, Ashkelon III.1 T (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 98.113.15279); 2. Gitler et al., 2024, 59 Philistia, Gaza; 3. Gitler et al., 2024, 86 Philistia, Gaza; 4. Gitler et al., 2024, 85 Philistia, Gaza; 5. Gitler et al., 2024, 158 Philistia; 6. Gitler et al., 2024, 166 Philistia; 7. Gitler et al., 2024, 164 Philistia; 8. Gitler et al., 2024, 165 Philistia; 9. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2013.39.34261; 10. Gitler and Tal, 2006, XV.1 T (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 98.113.15280).</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /></figure>

**Fig. 3.** The ten Athenian tetradrachms from Tel Mikhal analysed in this study. Circled areas indicate stylistic aspects Ariel identified as indicative of imitation owls. The numbers indicate those of the original publication (the numbers of these coins in the current paper appear in parenthesis). Photos by Tsila Sagiv and Sandu Mendrea of the Israel Antiquities Authority, previously published in *Ariel* (2006).

previously assumed. However, the isotopic data and details of the methods used were not provided in the paper and thus cannot be

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /></figure>

**Fig. 4.** Distribution of 61 Athenian tetradrachms recovered in 28 controlled archaeological excavations in Israel; data kindly provided by Robert Kool and Gabriela Bijovsky via the Israel National Coin Database of the *Israel Antiquities Authority* (2025) and the recent finding of six Athenian tetradrachms at Tel ‘Azeqa (also spelled ‘Azekah’) cf. Horesh et al. *Forthcoming*. The ten sites providing the specimens analysed in this project are marked with a blue dot. A single dot indicates one specimen found at a site, while a number in parentheses denotes multiple specimens. Modern cities are distinguished by grey squares. Map by Slava Pirsky.
evaluated here, and Q-ICP-MS does not represent the current state-of-the
art of Pb isotope analysis.

In the current study, we present the results of our analysis of 22 Athenian-style tetradrachms found in 10 controlled archaeological excavations in Israel using high-precision lead isotope analysis by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) (for analytical techniques see Milot et al., 2021), combined with new methods of statistical data treatment to determine the provenance of the ores used in the coins. We compare the new lead isotope data with our database of lead isotope compositions for ~ 7,000 galenas from around the Mediterranean (the ‘Lyon Pb isotope database’ — https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15119912). Statistical data treatment produces ‘hit maps’ of possible sources for the silver, from which a deduction can be made about the likely silver source(s) for each coin using the method described in Albarède et al. (2024a, 2024b, 2025) and Davis et al. (2025). Fourteen of the 22 coins have previously been analysed for their elemental compositions (Gitler et al., 2009; Ponting et al., 2011, see below Fig. 5, Nos. 4, 6–15, 18–20).

We then combine the numismatic evidence with the lead isotope
compositions and the archaeological data and place the full data set into
historical context. Finally, we reassess long-standing assumptions about
Eastern imitation owls and their distribution in the southern Levant in
the fourth century BCE.

## 2. Materials

The present study analysed 22 Athenian Attic-style tetradrachms, drawn from 10 distinct archaeological sites in Israel (Figs. 4–5, Table 1). This selection serves as a representative sample of the 61 Attic-style tetradrachms documented in the 28 controlled archaeological excavations throughout the southern Levant region of Israel in which such coins were found and includes 19 specimens of the three-quarter profile eye variety and two of the *pi*-style variety.

The two *pi*-style issues analysed here belong to the Bingen's *Pi* IV class. On the *Pi* IV obverses, the lower branches are lengthened and spring higher up from the point where the vertical axis and the curved horizontal intersect (see Bingen, 1969:14, Fig. 7; cf. Flament, 2007:

125–130). The mass minting of the *pi*-style tetradrachms apparently continued at least through Bingen’s Pi II, III, and IV classes since these sub-types contain a cluster of the tetradrachms with the elongated oval flans. It is noteworthy that all 14 *pi*-style owls hitherto discovered in Israel originate from excavations situated south of Mt. Gerizim.

Details of the sampling and the analytical and statistical methods used can be found in the Supplementary Material.

3. Results

Archaeological literature conventionally presents lead isotope data in two-dimensional scatter plots, or a pair of two-dimensional mirror plots. Each unknown point is compared visually to samples from known ores. The two-dimensional plot for the coins analysed in this study is given in Fig. 6, on the background of the Lyon database of relevant ores. ‘Relevant ores’ here refers to ores which are historically and archaeologically plausible sources for the silver coins in question.

Whilst this plot is superficially useful, our group, for many years, has endeavoured to refine the statistical interpretation of Pb isotopic data, seeing the potential of high-precision data to provide more nuance in answering important metallurgical questions. We have previously argued that two-dimensional visualisations of lead isotope data can be misleading as they do not account for separation in three-dimensional space or for mass-dependent fractionation (Albarède et al., 2012, 2020, 2021, 2024a, 2024b). Our preferred method is to use ‘hit maps’ which identify where strong hits or clusters of hits have been identified for each coin in the study. Maps representing ore sources that are statistically similar to the individual coins in question are presented in the hit maps in the Supplementary Material. The strongest hits are dark (black). We interpret the maps with the following criteria in mind:

* In the case where more than one ore source is possible, but Attica dominates, the coin's silver has been noted as having originated in Attica.

* An 'Aegean mix' refers to mixed silver predominantly from Attica, with a significant proportion from mines in Thrace controlled by the Athenians prior to the end of the Peloponnesian War.

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 5. The sample of 22 owls analysed for the current project.</figcaption></figure>
<caption>**Table 1**</caption>

Description of the 22 owls which were analysed for the current project, including Israel Antiquities Authority inventory number, archaeological site where the coins was found, and publication reference. The dates given are based through personal communication with John H. Kroll and Christophe Flament and references mainly to Flament, 2007.

<table><thead><tr><th>No.</th><th>Israel Antiquities Authority Inv. #</th><th>Find location</th><th>Conventional dating (BCE)</th><th>Athenian tetradrachm variety</th><th>Weight (g) &amp; notes</th><th>Reference</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>153927</td><td>Khirbet Qeiyafa</td><td>464–462</td><td>Frontal eye, probably Starr Group IV (note the double wave of Athena's lock of hair on her forehead), (Ch. G. Starr, Athenian Coinage, 480–449 BCE Oxford 1970)</td><td>3.48 Fragment, chisel cut</td><td>Farhi, 2016: 35, No 3</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>51361</td><td>Beth-Zur</td><td>c. 450–440</td><td>"Early Standardized" three-quarter profile eye, (Flament, 2007: Group II.1, Pl. III.1–6)</td><td>14.92 test cut</td><td>Sellers, 1933: 71, no. 1.</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>83440</td><td>Horbat 'Eleq</td><td>probably 440–420</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye, (cf. Flament, 2007: Group II.25–26, Pl. XII)</td><td>15.94</td><td>Barkay, 2000 No. 1</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>72576</td><td>'Athlit</td><td>440–420</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye, (Flament, 2007: Group II.47, Pls. XXI.9–13 and XXII.1–5)</td><td>16.25</td><td>Metcalf et al., 1999 No. 363</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>78976</td><td>Horbat Qastra</td><td>420–405</td><td>"Style M" owls, three-quarter profile eye, late 5th century, (van Alfen, 2002: 18, Pl. 9; Flament, 2007: Group III.1, Pl. XXIV.1–15 and XXV.1–5)</td><td>15.20 Plated, pierced</td><td>Gitler and Tal, 2006: 27; Ariel, 2006 No. 30</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>81278</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.19</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B5; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B5</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>81280</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.63</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B7; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B7</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>81281</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.76</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B8; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B8</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>81283</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.16</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B9; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B9</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>81284</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Buttrey Style B, three-quarter profile eye, late 5th century, (Flament, 2007: Group III.2, Pl. XXV.6–10)</td><td>16.33</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B11; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B11</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>64573</td><td>Khirbet er-Rujum</td><td>420–405</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye, late 5th century owl, (Flament, 2007: Group III.4, Pl. XXVI.1–5)</td><td>16.72</td><td>Bijovsky, 2002; Gitler and Tal, 2006: Fig. 2.3:8</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>8598</td><td>Dalton</td><td>420–405</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye, late 5th century owl, (cf. Flament, 2007: Group III.9, Pl. XXVII.12)</td><td>16.90</td><td>Gitler and Tal, 2014 No. 16</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>81277</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye, late 5th century owl, (Flament, 2007: Group III.25, cf. Pl. XXXIII.3)</td><td>16.57</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B4; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B4</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>81279</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>420–405</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye, late 5th century, (cf. Flament, 2007: Pl. XXXVI. 9)</td><td>16.12</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B6; Gitler et al., 2009: Pl. 4.B6</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>51357</td><td>Samaria</td><td>420–390</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye (very worn)</td><td>17.82 Plated</td><td>Kirkman, 1957: 49; Gitler and Tal, 2006: Fig. 2.3:10</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>51360</td><td>Samaria</td><td>420–390</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye (very worn)</td><td>11.74 Plated</td><td>Kirkman, 1957: 49; Gitler and Tal, 2006: Fig. 2.3:9</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>72253</td><td>Tel Zeror</td><td>420–390</td><td>Three-quarter profile eye (very worn)</td><td>1.93 Fragment, chisel cut</td><td>R. Badchi, personalcommunication (Gitler and Tal, 2006: 28)</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>81274</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>c. 393 (John H. Kroll, personal communication to appear in forthcoming paper)</td><td>Buttrey Style X. Cf. Flament, 2007, pp. 123–124, Fig. 32.</td><td>16.22</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B1</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>81275</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>c. 393</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.02</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B2</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>81276</td><td>Tel Mikhal hoard</td><td>c. 393</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.16</td><td>Ariel, 2006 No. B3</td></tr><tr><td>21</td><td>153930</td><td>Khirbet Qeiyafa</td><td>early 340 s (John H. Kroll, personal communication)</td><td>Pi-style owl. For the coin type cf. Flament, 2007, pp. 125–130 (Bingen's Pi IV)</td><td>17.08</td><td>Farhi, 2016: 35, No 7</td></tr><tr><td>22</td><td>153931</td><td>Khirbet Qeiyafa</td><td>early 340 s</td><td>Same as above</td><td>16.99</td><td>Farhi, 2016: 36, No 8</td></tr></tbody></table>

* The 'Sardinian mix' has been described in Albarède et al. (2024a, 2024b) and Davis et al. (2025) as a mix of silver that developed through long-term trade, perhaps over centuries, in the Mediterranean by Phoenician and Greek merchants, likely peaking at the end of the 6th century BCE.

* Where a coin has multiple hits, with no particular source appearing to be especially dominant, we have simply noted it as a 'mix', by which we mean containing silver from multiple sources.

* Where a coin has no statistically significant hits, we have been unable to identify a possible source. This may be due to factors such as considerable mixing or a lack of pertinent ore data in the Lyon Pb isotope database.

Silver sources determined for each coin are listed in Table 2 and discussed individually in the Supplementary Material.

The results of this study indicate that the frontal eye variety (1), and
<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 6. Two-dimensional scatter plot of the lead isotope compositions of the coins analysed in this work with relevant ore fields as backdrop for visual comparison.</figcaption></figure>

12 of the 19 three-quarter profile eye variety coins (2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20) are made from silver originating from the mines of Lavrion in Attica. Mixing is present in a further five coins (6, 7, 10, 14, and 18) with silver sourced from within the Athenian Empire or Athens' sphere of influence prior to the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE. Two coins (4 and 16) did not indicate any silver sourced from Athens or the Athenian sphere of influence. Coins 5, 15, and 16 are plated. The plating on coin 16 is essentially gone leaving the bronze core almost entirely exposed, which is why the Pb isotope analysis of this coin gave inconclusive results. Coins 5 and 15 have retained their silver plating, which is consistent with silver from Attica for both.

The two *pi*-style coins (21 and 22, both from Khirbet Qeiyafa) are not sourced from Attic silver. One (21) is a mix, and the other (22) has no identifiable hits.

## 4. Discussion

The majority of the three-quarter profile eye variety coins in this study are isotopically consistent with authentic Athenian issues, on the one hand challenging earlier assumptions based on stylistic analysis that they are Eastern imitations, and on the other hand supporting other previous numismatic and metallurgical research suggesting they are authentic Athenian issues. Two of the coins (1 and 17) are chisel-cut silver fragments, indicating their use as *Hacksilber* and thus valued by their silver weight. Coin 1 (464–462 BCE) dates to the proto-monetary phase in the southern Levant, immediately preceding the transition to a formal monetary system and was clearly utilised as *Hacksilber*. In contrast, coin 17 (most probably dated to 420–405 BCE) demonstrates the persistence of weight-based silver use in the economy even after the introduction of coinage (cf. Gitler, 2006) as minted coins were occasionally cut up into subdivisions and treated as *Hacksilber* to facilitate specific payment values.

In the following, we propose a new hypothesis that explains the presence of Athenian coins in the southern Levant and the high proportion of plated coins. We further confirm the more refined chronology of the three-quarter eye variety series.

In the final period of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), the centre of conflict shifted to the Eastern Mediterranean. Huge fleets fought as the Peloponnesian League was now largely subsidised by the Persians and could contest Athenian naval dominance. The expenditure required to supply the forces flooded western Asia with coinage with the

Athenian owl predominating, especially since its use was mandated in the Athenian Empire (IG 1³ 1453). However, the war effort placed intense financial strain on Athens, which even resorted to the production of emergency plated coinage as its silver supplies were almost completely depleted (Thompson, 1966; Kroll, 1976); these coins are prominently represented in our sample. The defeat of Athens in 404 BCE marked not only political and military defeat, but also the cessation of large-scale mining at Lavrion and loss of its overseas holdings. It is thus entirely unlikely that Attic silver or silver formerly controlled by the Athenian Empire could have been used to produce the three-quarter eye series beyond 404 BCE. We therefore identify 404 BCE as the *terminus ante quem* for Athenian three-quarter profile eye tetradrachms, noting that Flament (2007: 79–91) and Kroll (2025) independently came to the same conclusion.

While we only present data for two *pi*-style coins, we find that neither of them is consistent with Lavrion silver. A robust statistical argument against Kroll's hypothesis—that *pi*-style owls were produced from demonetised Attic coins that had been flattened, folded and restruck (Kroll, 2011b)—would necessitate data from a larger sample set. However, our preliminary findings (aligning with Flament, 2023) present the possibility that Kroll's hypothesis is incorrect, or at least that Athens struck a proportion of the new coins in the *pi*-style series from non-Lavrion silver. Kroll (personal communication with Davis) remained convinced of his theory. He wondered whether these two coins may have been Near Eastern imitations but accepted that the second coin at least did not look like an imitation.

A further problem concerns the common practice observed here of archaeologists using the presumed date of a coin find to assign a date to the stratigraphic layer in which it was found. This is often not methodologically sound as there are few fixed dates in numismatic series which mostly lack authoritative and recent die studies and are prone to over-reliance on literary sources. The practice becomes problematic when that same layer is then used to date other artefacts, creating a circular argument with no independently constrained foundation. We urge that greater attention be paid to the find's context and stratigraphic integrity for independent verification, which may lead to the redating of a whole coin series.

## 5. Conclusions

Our Pb isotope analyses indicate that the ore sources used to strike
<table><caption>**Table 2**
Summary of hit locations per coin. Hits are identified by shaded cells in the table.</caption><thead><tr><th>No.</th><th>Coin</th><th>S Gaul</th><th>S Sardinia</th><th>Tunisia</th><th>Balkans</th><th>Attica</th><th>Chalkidiki</th><th>Thrace</th><th>Mysia</th><th>Taurus</th><th>Athenian tetradracm variety</th><th>Interpretation</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>IAA 153927 Khirbet Qeiyafa</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>IAA 51361 Beth-Zur</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>IAA 83440 Horbat Eleq</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>IAA 72576 Athlit</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mix</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>IAA 78976 Horbat Qastra</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>IAA 81278 Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Sardinian Mix</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>IAA 81280 Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Aegean Mix</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>IAA 81281 Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>IAA 81283 Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>IAA 81284 Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>mix</td></tr></tbody></table>

(continued on next page)
<table><caption>**Table 2 (continued)**</caption><tr><td>11</td><td>IAA 64573<br/>Khirbet er-Rujum</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>IAA 8598<br/>Dalton</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>IAA 81277<br/>Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>IAA 81279<br/>Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Aegean<br/>Mix</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>IAA 51357<br/>Samaria</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Plated, three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>IAA 51360<br/>Samaria</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Plated, three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>mix</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>IAA 72253<br/>Tel Zeror</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye<br/>fragment, chisel cut</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>IAA 81274<br/>Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>IAA 81275<br/>Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>IAA 81276<br/>Tel Mikhal</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Three-quarter<br/>profile eye</td><td>Attica</td></tr><tr><td>21</td><td>IAA 153930<br/>Khirbet Qeiyafa</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Pi-style</td><td>mix</td></tr><tr><td>22</td><td>IAA 153931<br/>Khirbet Qeiyafa</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Pi-style</td><td>No hits</td></tr></table>
Athenian coinage of the three-quarter profile eye owl variety were mixed, including ore from domestic Athenian Lavrion mines and other ore-producing regions within the Athenian sphere of influence, with a small percentage coming from external sources. In a few cases, silver from external regions appears to have been incorporated, arguably through the use of bullion or recycled coinage finding its way into the Attic mint. There is no substantive reason to doubt that the coins are authentic Athenian issues rather than Eastern imitations.

We propose that the fall of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War and its loss of silver supplies necessitates 404 BCE for the minting *terminus ante quem* of Athenian three-quarter profile eye tetradrachms, refining the accepted dating of this variety by Kroll (2011a), in agreement with his later work (Kroll, 2025) and that of Flament (2007: 79–91). Furthermore, three out of the 19 three-quarter profile eye owl variety coins were plated. This reflects known minting practice at Athens under increasing financial pressure during the final stages of the Peloponnesian War.

The dating highlights a methodological concern in ancient numismatics: the danger of circular reasoning in coin dating. Coins should not be relied upon to date archaeological contexts unless those contexts are independently dated and stratigraphically secure. We acknowledge that coins are sometimes the most reliable criterion, but argue that in many cases, it is the stratigraphy that should help date the coin—not the other way around. We advocate increased attention to the archaeological contexts of coin finds, especially in reassessing typological assumptions.

We also raise questions regarding Kroll's hypothesis that *pi*-style owls which appear in the early 340s BCE were produced from demonetised Attic coins that had been flattened, folded and restruck (Kroll, 2011b). The two *pi*-style samples analysed here, both from Khirbet Qeiyafa, are inconsistent with Attic lead isotopic signatures. While this small sample set of only two coins precludes definitive conclusions, it does challenge Kroll's (2011b) hypothesis that *pi*-style owls were struck in Athens using recycled Attic silver. These conclusions align with Flament (2023). A larger data set is warranted to determine whether our two examples are anomalous or representative of a broader trend.

The integration of numismatic analysis, lead isotope data, and archaeological provenance material provides a powerful toolkit for evaluating ancient coinage. By considering more than stylistic interpretation alone, we facilitate more accurate reconstructions of economic activity, minting practices, and regional circulation after the Peloponnesian War.

## Credit authorship contribution statement

**Liesel Gentelli:** Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. **Gillan Davis:** Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization. **Francis Albarède:** Supervision, Software, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. **Janne Blichert-Toft:** Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology, Data curation. **Haim Gitler:** Writing – review & editing, Investigation.

## Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

## Acknowledgements

We dedicate this paper in memory of Professor ‘Jack’ John H. Kroll (1938–2026), a seminal figure in Greek numismatics whose rigorous analysis of the Athenian Agora excavations redefined the chronological and socio-economic frameworks of Attic coinage and civic administration, and a personal friend of both Davis and Gitler.

This research was funded by the European Research Council H2020 Advanced Grant 741454-SILVER-ERC-2016-ADG ‘Silver Isotopes and the Rise of Money’ awarded to Francis Albarède. Liesel Gentelli benefited from a grant from the Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies to further refine this research. Philippe Télouk is thanked for maintaining ICP-MS instrumentation in perfect conditions and Chloé Malod-Dognin and Florent Arnaud-Godet for maintaining a well-functioning and clean laboratory environment. We are grateful to Israel Antiquities Authority who granted us permission to analyse the owls kept at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and to Sharon Tager and Irit Lev-Beyth for providing the facilities to examine this material at the Israel Museum’s Metals and Organic Object Conservation laboratory. We further extend our gratitude to Robert Kool and Gabriela Bijovsky of the Israel Antiquities Authority for providing updated figures from the Israel National Coin Database, recognised as the most extensive scientific database of provenanced coin finds of its type in the Eastern Mediterranean. We thank the anonymous reviewers, and Professors Kroll and Flament for their comments and suggestions.

# Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105634.

## Data availability

The data is attached as a supplementary file

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