Faithful reader Anne G writes: My greatuncle died recently and left me a coin collection that I know nothing about. I looked around on the Internet and from the pictures I've seen I think they are Roman. I think I need to talk to a specialist in Roman coins. How do I do find one?
This is an excellent question, and it applies to anyone looking to know more about a particular subdiscipline, whether to identify an object or answer a question or even find a person to study with.
Finding a specialist in any subdiscipline in archaeology (or really, any subject at all these days) is simply a matter of computer research. Today most of the large university libraries have electronic catalogs, as do the big journal publishers, like Elsevier and Springer. You can easily get online, put your keyword "Roman coins" and get a list of publications. Look for publications in the last ten years, and assemble a list of names.
Here are some of my favorite research collections:
- Yale University Library
- Hollis Catalog, Harvard University
- Archaeology Databases
- Science Direct (Elsevier journals)
- Springerlink (Springer journals)
Once you have a list of names, use a search engine--Google will do--and put that person's name into it. I recommend you find someone currently based at a university, because they will likely be around a good portion of the year, working on similar projects and up-to-date on the latest research. They may be too busy to personally help, but they may give pointers to where you can find more information, recommend books or other individuals to help you along the way.
