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The Heritage of Money and Coinage: Metal Matters – From the Mine to the Mint

Explore the fascinating field of monetary history and practice with us in the spring and summer of 2024, online and in beautiful Salzburg

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CIVIS focus area
Society, culture, heritage
Open to
  • Bachelor's
  • Master's
  • PhD
Field of studies
  • Art, Design and Media
  • Business and Management
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Law
  • Natural Sciences and Mathematics
  • Social Science and humanities
  • Environmental sciences, Urbanism, Geography
Type
  • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates
24 April - 19 June 2024

Money makes the world go round – and has done so for more than 2500 years. States and regions around the world shaped their money differently and used different materials. Metals were always among the most important, and the focus for specific technology, social tensions and cultural expressions.

The heritage and impact of coinage and other means of exchange is vast and deeply culturally embedded in today’s global societies: in economy, social life, the arts, cultural heritage, and more. We will explore aspects of coinage and the metals it was made from with CIVIS students.

Teaching expertise includes the fields of anthropology, archaeology, art, economics, and historical sciences. We will look at money, coinage and their heritage from a cross-cultural perspective and with a special focus set on the material culture of money and the role of metals in money production.

Main topic addressed

  • The concepts of money and related materials, including theory and method, with examples from the Classical world up to the virtual one
  • Minting processes, metal procurement and the economy of resources
  • The legacies of money and coinage within social, economic and cultural spheres in global perspectives
  • Current and traditional research issues, heritage management, outreach and public discourse

Learning outcomes

  • acquaintance with the pre-modern and global concepts of money and related materials, including theory and method
  • knowledge of the legacies of money and coinage within social, economic and cultural spheres, in global perspectives
  • general understanding of the economy of resources, minting processes, metal procurement etc.
  • knowledge of management (incl. hands-on exercises) as well as of outreach and public discourse

 

 

Header image credits: Stadtmarketing Schwaz

Dates: 24 April - 19 June 2024 Total workload: 150 hours
Format: Blended ECTS: 6*
Location: Salzburg, Austria Language: English (B2)
Contact: alexander.jost@plus.ac.at  

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

10 to 14 June 2024

Our Summer School will be held at Salzburg University - conveniently located in the center of Europe, and in a region with a rich historical heritage of mining for all three major mint metals: gold, silver, and copper.

During this five-days event in June, students will meet scholars from different fields related to the history of money. You will get the opportunity to present and discuss your own work within a friendly and knowledgeable cross-disciplinary group of scholars and students. The highly reputed coin collection of the Salzburg Museum will be made available for our hands-on exercises with historical coins of different periods. During excursions in the surrounding alps, we will explore the conditions for mining, processing, and transport of mint metals in the field. In short, we have chosen the brightest time of the year to bring you to the highest mountains, into the darkest mines, and to the purest sources of knowledge!

Virtual part

The virtual sessions will start on 24 April 2024 and will end on 19 June, with a closure session held after the physical mobility part of the course: 

  • 24 April: Introduction Session
  • 8 May: Lecture Session (Polosa+Guest/ TBA)
  • 15 May: Lecture Session (Krmnicek+Faucher)
  • 22 May: Lecture Session (Myrberg Burström+Van Buren)
  • 29 May: Lecture Session (Jost+Marone)
  • (physical mobility)
  • 19 June: Concluding Session

Requirements

This course is open to Bachelor's, Master's and PhD's students at CIVIS member universities, with a high interest in History, Archaeology, Economy, Area Studies, Geology, Chemistry, Politcs and Art.

The participants should be fluent in English (B2). Also, the understanding of Money, its history, and its many cultural aspects is a pursuit relevant not only to many different subjects of study and research areas, but also to every student’s practical life. We therefore highly value the motivation and ability to think critically about this subject . Moreover, since many different fields of research are involved into this topic, the will and skill to work interdisciplinary is crucial.

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

Students from CIVIS’ strategic partner universities in Africa cannot apply for participation in this course.

Application process

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 November 2023, including:

  • CV
  • Motivation letter
  • Level of english (According to CEFR)

Applications will be evaluated based on the quality of the Motivation letter and its degree of relevance to the course theme and overall study results as they appear in the CV or transcript.

Apply now

Assessment

Students will be assessed out from an individually formulated project (course assignment) relating to their own ongoing research or studies. This will be evaluated in oral (75%) and written (25%) format.

The student will present their Individual Project during the Spring School and briefly during a Digital Campus class. This will be evaluated by teachers on-site and discussed with teachers and fellow students.

A written paper (c. 3 pages) shall be handed in after the last digital class. The oral and written presentations will be evaluated based on:

  • the student’s ability to apply knowledge gained during the course;
  • the student's ability to relate their own work to the course theme and course aims;
  • the overall scientific and academic quality.

Grading scale: Pass/ Fail.

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

  • Stefan Krmnicek is Junior professor of Ancient Numismatics with an interest in the archaeology of money in the Roman world of Central Europe
  • Annalisa Polosa is Associate Professor and specialised in the Methodology of numismatics in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean
  • Nanoushka Myrberg Burström is Associate Professor and researches the Social dimension of money in the Northern Iron Age and the Middle Ages
  • Alexander Jost is Senior Researcher and specialised in the Monetary economy in pre-modern China

Additional teachers and museum staff will be also teaching several lectures and training sessions. 

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