‘Underground’ Money in an Outremer Estate: Token Molds and Lead Tokens from Crusader Arsur

Abstract

This paper discusses token molds and lead tokens retrieved during controlled archaeological
excavations at the site of Arsur (Apollonia-Arsūf) during excavations over the past two decades.
It promulgates the idea that locally struck unofficial lead money formed an integral part of the
‘cash’ used by Frankish settlers in the lordship of Arsur, like in many of the cities, towns and
rural estates in the Latin East during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.