保加利亞中世紀堡壘出土的金幣顯示了其人民的財富

考古學家稱，在保加利亞一座中世紀堡壘遺址出土的一枚金幣表明了奧斯曼土耳其統治初期居住在那裡的人們的財富。

A gold coin found at the site of a medieval fortress in Bulgaria suggests the people who lived there were wealthier than previously thought during the early years of Ottoman Turkish rule, according to archaeologists.

考古學家稱，在保加利亞一座中世紀堡壘遺址發現的一枚金幣表明，在奧斯曼土耳其統治初期，居住在那裡的人們比之前想像的要富裕。

A team from the Rousse Regional Museum of History found the coin earlier this year during excavations at the village of Cherven, near the Danube river and Bulgaria's northern border with Romania. It appears to be from the Byzantine Empire, and other coins like it are sometimes attributed to John III Doukas Vatatzes, who was the emperor of Nicaea — a Byzantine successor state — from 1222 until 1254.

魯塞地區歷史博物館的團隊今年稍早在多瑙河和保加利亞與羅馬尼亞北部邊境附近的切爾文村進行挖掘時發現了這枚硬幣。它似乎來自拜占庭帝國，其他類似硬幣有時被認為是約翰三世·杜卡斯·瓦塔茲 (John III Doukas Vatatzes) 的作品，他是 1222 年至 1254 年間尼西亞（拜占庭繼承國）的皇帝。

The coin shows two figures on one side, one of whom is dressed in the distinctive robes of a Byzantine emperor.

硬幣的一側有兩個人物，其中一個穿著拜占庭皇帝獨特的長袍。

But Svetlana Velikova, an archaeologist at the museum who is leading the excavations, told Live Science that such coins were also minted by the Latin Empire, a state founded by a Crusader army that sacked and occupied the imperial city of Constantinople — now Istanbul — in 1204.

但負責發掘工作的博物館考古學家斯韋特蘭娜·維利科娃(Svetlana Velikova) 告訴《生活科學》，這些硬幣也是由拉丁帝國鑄造的，拉丁帝國是由十字軍建立的國家，十字軍於2007 年洗劫並佔領了皇城君士坦丁堡（現在的伊斯坦堡）。

Velikova said that recent studies had suggested that, rather than disrupting the known coinage, the Latin Empire's rulers chose to mint imitations of Byzantine coins, until Constantinople was reconquered in 1261. The 13th-century-styled coin was also much lighter than it should have been — about three-quarters its original weight — which indicated it had been resized in accordance with 14th-century standards for the region's gold coins, she said.

維利科娃表示，最近的研究表明，拉丁帝國的統治者並沒有破壞已知的硬幣，而是選擇鑄造拜占庭硬幣的仿製品，直到1261 年君士坦丁堡被重新征服為止。世紀風格的硬幣也比應有的重量輕得多。

Related: 32 stunning centuries-old hoards unearthed by metal detectorists

相關：金屬探測器出土的 32 件令人驚嘆的數百年曆史的寶藏

These details, along with its location, suggest the coin may date to the first years after Cherven was conquered by the Ottomans in 1388, Velikova said.

維利科娃說，這些細節及其位置表明，這枚硬幣可能可以追溯到 1388 年切爾文被奧斯曼帝國征服後的頭幾年。

Fortress wall

堡壘牆

Archaeologists have excavated around Cherven for more than a century, Velikova said. Ruins near the village show it was an important town during the Second Bulgarian Empire, which ruled from 1185 until the empire was completely conquered by the Ottomans in 1396.

維利科娃說，考古學家在切爾文周圍進行了一個多世紀的挖掘。村莊附近的廢墟顯示，它是保加利亞第二帝國時期的一個重要城鎮，該帝國從 1185 年開始統治，直到 1396 年被奧斯曼帝國完全征服。

Three other gold coins of the same type were found nearby in 1975, Velikova said, so it seems that local rulers had sometimes permitted the use of foreign coins, perhaps to make up for their own lack of gold.

維利科娃說，1975 年在附近發現了另外三枚相同類型的金幣，因此當地統治者有時允許使用外國硬幣，也許是為了彌補自己缺乏黃金。

The latest gold coin and other artifacts — including arrowheads, jewelry and pottery fragments — were found during excavations along what had been a defensive wall on the western side of a medieval fortress at Cherven, she said.

她說，最新的金幣和其他文物——包括箭頭、珠寶和陶器碎片——是在切爾文中世紀堡壘西側的防禦牆挖掘過程中發現的。

Until now, archaeologists thought the people who lived in the western part of the town were generally poor. But the new finds suggest that at least some were wealthy, Velikova said.

到目前為止，考古學家認為居住在鎮西部的人們普遍都很貧窮。但維利科娃說，新發現顯示至少有些人很富有。

Medieval empire

中世紀帝國

—Rare 14th-century gold 'leopard' coin could sell for 140,000 British pounds

——稀有的 14 世紀「豹」金幣售價 14 萬英鎊

—Buried treasure of 44 Byzantine gold coins found in nature reserve in Israel

——以色列自然保護區發現埋藏著 44 枚拜占庭金幣的寶藏

—Gold coin stash from time of Henry VIII found in English garden

——在英國花園中發現的亨利八世時期的金幣藏品

The Second Bulgarian Empire was a major power in the medieval Balkans and a rival of the Byzantine Empire.

保加利亞第二帝國是中世紀巴爾幹半島的一個主要勢力，也是拜占庭帝國的競爭對手。

But both the Bulgarians and the Byzantines were also threatened by the Ottoman Empire, which already occupied many former Byzantine territories in the East.

但保加利亞人和拜占庭人也受到奧斯曼帝國的威脅，奧斯曼帝國已經佔領了東部許多前拜占庭領土。

Bulgaria remained an Ottoman territory for roughly 500 years after it was conquered in 1396; and the Ottomans went on to conquer Constantinople in 1453.

保加利亞自 1396 年被征服後，在大約 500 年內一直是奧斯曼帝國的領土； 1453 年，奧斯曼帝國繼續征服君士坦丁堡。