David Wigg-Wolf (born 1956), also known as David G. Wigg is a British-German numismatist.

Education

Wigg-Wolf completed his Master of Arts in Literae Humaniores in 1979 at

Oriel College, Oxford University Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, ...

. Supervised by Cathy E. King, Heberden Coin Room at the Ashmolean Museum, Wigg-Wolf received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1986 with his thesis on "The Circulation of Bronze Coinage in N. Gaul in the Mid-fourth Century A.D.: the Numismatic Evidence for the

Usurpation A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it a ...

Magnentius Magnus Magnentius ( 303 – 10 August 353) was a Roman general and usurper against Constantius II. Of Germanic descent, Magnentius served with distinction in Gaul, where the army chose him as a replacement for the unpopular emperor Constans. Ac ...

and its Aftermath" From 1982 to 1984, he went to the

Goethe University Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

in Frankfurt am Main on the Michael Foster Memorial Scholarship, an exchange program of the

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

and the University of Oxford.

Career

From 1984, he worked as a researcher on the project "Fundmünzen der römischen Zeit in Deutschland" (FMRD), financed by the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

, which was then transformed in 1986 into the academy project "Fundmünzen der Antike" (FRMD/SFMA) at the

Academy of Sciences and Literature The Academy of Sciences and Literature () is a scientific academy in Mainz, Germany. It was established in 1949 on an initiative of Alfred Döblin. The academy's goal is to support science and literature, and in doing so to help preserve and pro ...

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

. From December 2008 until his retirement in September 2024, he was a senior researcher at the Römisch-Germanische Kommission of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Status, tasks and ...

. Since September 2024, Wigg-Wolf has held the position of

Editor-at-Large An editor-at-large is a journalist who contributes content to a magazine. They are typically credited in the publication's masthead, even if they technically are not on staff. The responsibilities of the editor-at-large may change project to proj ...

British Archaeological Reports The British Archaeological Reports Series contains over 3,500 books of academic archaeological research, including monographs, excavation reports, revised theses and conference proceedings. Founded in 1974, BAR Publishing is one of the world's la ...

(BAR), a publisher specializing in archaeological works. Since December 2024, Wigg-Wolf has been an

Honorary Professor Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...

at the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History. His research focuses in particular on

Celtic coinage Celtic coinage was minted by the Celts from the late 4th century BC to the mid 1st century AD. Celtic coins were influenced by trade with and the supply of mercenaries to the Greeks, and initially copied Greek designs, especially Macedonian coi ...

in Western Europe as well as the

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neolo ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

in Northern and Central Europe. The importance of coin finds for the understanding of the ancient world is always emphasized, whereby numismatic findings are closely linked to archaeological results. DE-MUS-814819-18314264-rv

Wigg-Wolf is also specialized in digital numismatics, having played a decisive role in shaping computer-aided research in this field. Together with the Big Data Lab at the University of Frankfurt, he developed the databas
"Antike Fundmünzen in Europa (AFE-RGK)"
which is used by the Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute, the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

and the

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in ...

in Budapest. With AFE, coin find data is made available online and linked to other systems. Since 2011 he has been working closely with the

Linked Open Data In computing, linked data is structured data which is interlinked with other data so it becomes more useful through semantic queries. It builds upon standard Web technologies such as HTTP, RDF and URIs, but rather than using them to serve web ...

project of the

American Numismatic Society The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation ...

(ANS), nomisma.org, which was initiated by Andrew Meadows and Sebastian Heath and is now being further developed by Ethan Gruber, and is now a member of the nomisma.org Scientific Committee. As co-chair of the DARIAH-EU Digital Numismatics Working Group and initiator of the European Coin Find Network (ECFN), he promoted cooperation and dialog between institutions that are particularly concerned with digital aspects of coin finds.

Awards and Honors

* 2003 Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

* 2024 Retirement medal donated by colleagues and friends * 2024 Honorary Professor at the University of Leicester

Publications

By Wigg-Wolf * ''Münzumlauf in Nordgallien um die Mitte des 4. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. Numismatische Zeugnisse für die Usurpation des Magnentius und die damit verbundenen Germaneneinfälle'' (= ''Studien zu Fundmünzen der Antike'' 8). Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-7861-1595-8 (PhD). * with Cathy E. King (Hrsg.): ''Coin Finds and Coin Use in the Roman World. The Thirteenth Oxford Symposium of Coinage and Monetary History, 25-27 March 1993'' (= ''Studien zu Fundmünzen der Antike'' 10). Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1996. * with Jeannot Metzler (Hrsg.): ''Die Kelten und Rom. Neue numismatische Forschungen'' (= ''Studien zu Fundmünzen der Antike'' 19). Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3577-6. * with Colin Haselgrove (Hrsg.): ''Iron age coinage and ritual practices'' (= ''Studien zu Fundmünzen der Antike'' 20). Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3491-5. * with Claudia Nickel, Martin Thoma: ''Martberg: Heiligtum und Oppidum der Treverer'' (= ''Berichte zur Archäologie an Mittelrhein und Mosel'' Bd. 14). Koblenz 2008. * ''Die Fundmünzen der römischen Zeit in Deutschland, Abteilung 4, Rheinland-Pfalz. Band 4, 2: Koblenz: der Martberg bei Pommern (ehem. Kreis Cochem) II''. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2015. * with Thomas G. Schattner, Dieter Vieweger (Hrsg.): ''Kontinuität und Diskontinuität, Prozesse der Romanisierung. Fallstudien zwischen Iberischer Halbinsel und Vorderem Orient. Ergebnisse der gemeinsamen Treffen der Arbeitsgruppen >Kontinuität und Diskontinuität: Lokale Traditionen und römische Herrschaft im Wandel, und ,Geld eint, Geld trennt< (2013–2017)''. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westf. 2019, ISBN 978-3-86757-397-9. About Wigg-Wolf * Pilekić, M. (2024) „Honos in aere signatus – David Wigg-Wolf geht in den Ruhestand", Geldgeschichtliche Nachrichten (GN). Gesellschaft für Internationale Geldgeschichte (GIG). doi: 10.5281/zenodo.13626770.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigg-Wolf, David 1956 births Living people British numismatists German numismatists Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London