IDENTIFICATION, CLASSIFICATION, AND TYPOLOGY OF SILVER DIRHAMS OF THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE (MARVANIAN BRANCH) IN THE REPOSITORY OF THE REGIONAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST IRAN (ZAHEDAN)

During the reform period of Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan (65-86 AH), in 76 AH it was decided to replace Arab-Sasanian and Arab-Byzantine coins with a completely Islamic form. The first gold dinar was minted in Kufic script in 77 AH, and the first Islamic dirhams were minted in 78 AH. The minting of new dirhams spread rapidly, so that about a hundred mints minted these dirhams. The knowledge of numismatics can solve many historical mysteries. The period of the Umayyad caliphate was not free of historical uncertainties, so knowing the coins of this period is very important. There are 42 silver dirhams belonging to the Umayyad period, confiscated from antique smugglers, in the coin collection of the Southeast Regional Museum of Iran. This research focuses on these valuable coins' identification, classification, and typology. The descriptive framework of "Stephen Album" numismatics was used to carry out this research. This method was proposed for the first time in 2012 in Santa Rosa (California, USA) by the Stephen Album Rare Coins Institute and was welcomed by numismatists. Also, the abundance chart of each mint's coins in relation to the total number of coins is presented. The results show that the Umayyad silver dirhams of this collection were minted sporadically between 82 and 128 AH in Wasit, Basrah, Damascus, Merv, Darabgerd, and Kerman mints (in order of abundance).