"(...) Silver coins formed the backbone of currency in the Roman Empire. Roman emperors manipulated the silver content of the coins to solve short-term financial problems frequently caused by government overspending. For the most part, this manipulation involved the reduction of the silver content of the coinage in conjunction with a drop in weight.
Dr Ponting said: "In the 1970s a study documented the silver contents of Roman Imperial silver coins by analysing their surface. Until recently this was the principal reference for economic historians on the monetary policies of the Roman Empire.
"During the 1990s, however, historians realised that many Roman silver coins were deliberately treated to remove some of the copper from their surface, giving impure coins the appearance of being pure and disguising the debasement of the currency. Analysis of the coins' surface had therefore overestimated their silver content."
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