What is CFU?
CFU is an acronym for "Coin Finds of Ukraine". CFU is an ongoing collaborative project to digitize and catalog ancient (Greek, Persian, Celtic, Heto-Dacian) coins (6 - 1 centuries BC) found on the territory of modern Ukraine, which combines the resources and expertise of several participating institutions, with the Ukrainian Numismatic Society at its center. The inventory of published coin finds, which aims to ensure their completeness, is an important contribution to the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
What is CFU’s purpose?
The CFU aims to reconstruct the ancient economy using a large amount of data on ancient coins from the 6th - 1st centuries BC found on the territory of modern Ukraine. Our current goals are to collect information on the thousands of published coin finds in the Northern Black Sea, Ukrainian Steppe, Forest-Steppe, Volyn, and Carpathian regions. The project aims to be comprehensive, and future phases of the project will aim for full data coverage. We are also committed to improving and expanding access to data. This means implementing full data interoperability with Nomisma's Linked Open Data standard, as well as improving MRI visualization tools for users who want to use our data for research. We intend to integrate the IGCH data together with the MZU data to provide a more complete historical picture. All these steps are critical to providing a complete picture of the Ukrainian numismatic finds of the classical period: by providing a synthetic overview of these finds, we hope to place them in their proper place in the overall picture of the classical/Hellenic numismatic circulation of Greece and, consequently, the economy of the Greco-Roman and barbarian world between the 6-1 centuries BC. The CFU will then provide scientists with tools to analyze this information.
It sounds interesting. Where to start?
If you would like to learn more about the finds of ancient (Greek, Persian, Celtic, Heto-Dacian) coins in modern Ukraine, please see our page "Published finds of ancient coins in modern Ukraine"
Who is behind the CFU?
The co-directors of the project are Vasyl Orlyk and Mark Pyzyk. The project's staff members are Mykhailo Orlyk and Ilya Curto Pelle. CUF has benefitted from the support of the following organizations: the American Numismatic Society, the Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, and Stanford University (in particular, research support came from Josiah Ober and Adrienne Mayor).
When was the CFU founded?
The idea to establish the CFU was proposed in 2021 by Vasyl Orlyk and supported by Mark Pyhyk. The project was launched in 2022, largely motivated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which caused significant losses of cultural heritage on Ukrainian territory, including numismatic collections and hoards.