Byzantine Coin from Kohne Tepesi, Northwestern Iran

Based on the archaeological evidence, our understanding of the Seljuqs' political and military interaction with the Byzantines in the northern regions of the Araxes River and Anatolia is scarce. In 2007, a Byzantine gold coin belonging to Constantine X (1059-1067) was found in the northeastern part of Kohne Tepesi, completely similar to the newly discovered coins from Qale Bakhtak Leylan in the southeast of Lake Urmia. Historical evidence points to political and military conflicts between the Seljuq rulers and the Byzantines rather than a strong political-economic relationship. These wars reached a turning point during the reign of Alp Arsalan when he added the northern areas of the Araxes river and Anatolia to the Seljuq Empire. This paper, describing these findings, tries to address the following questions: How can we interpret the Byzantine gold coins found in northwestern Iran? Were these coins the result of the arrival of the Byzantines in Northwestern Iran? Or because of the Seljuk's long struggles and conflicts with the Byzantines, it arrived in this region as war-booty?
Based on the current limited archaeological evidence, it can be hypothesized that Byzantine gold coins in northwestern Iran may designate a war-booty brought from Byzantine dominated areas into the Seljuq political domination areas. However, the verification of this hypothesis requires more archaeological evidence. Hence, this article, describing this new finding, hopes to contribute to this area's studies in the given period by raising more questions for future scholarships.