PHOENICIAN COINS AND PHOENICIAN EXPLORATION Prof. Dr. Mark A. McMenamin Summary Numismatic evidence favoring the hypothesis of a Carthaginian presence in North America has recently come to light. The evidence is twofold. The first piece of evidence consists of a particular group of early Carthaginian gold coins (caIled staters) that bear a map (derived from modified Punic letters) showing both the Old World and the New World. Going from east to west, the maps show India, the south coast ofEurope above Sardinia and Sicily, and America. The second piece of evidence consists of aseries of seven or eight copper coins found scattered across North America from Nebraska to Georgia to Connecticut. The coins have an image of the Punic horse, the Phoenician palm tree (uprooted as if to be transplanted) and an enigmatic inscription in the Punic language. It seems unlikely that these coins were brought across the Atlantic in modern times, and if authentie they suggest a Carthaginian presence in ancient America. Taken separately, these pieces of evidence could be dismissed as some type of fluke or hoax, respectively. But taken together, along with the fact that Carthaginian gold and base metal coins were reported from the Azores in 1778(1), the available evidence suggests that the Carthaginians had the ability to cross the Atlantic at will. The Carthaginians were the western tribe of the Tyrian Phoenicians. The awesome abilities of both Tyrians and Carthaginians as seafarers left such an impression on the ancient mind that rumors have circulated ever since on the subject of exactly how far the Carthaginians reached with their ships. Peter Whitfield, although he accepts Herodotus' account of the Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa in 600 BC, says of the Phoenicians that "of their science, geography and chartmaking, if any, we know nothing . . . and as far as we can teIl formal cartography played no part in their maritime achievement(2)." The recent discovery of Tyrian deep water shipwrecks dated to 750 BC, complete with intact ceramic jugs and amphorae, promises to provide us with more information about Phoenician trade and exploration(3). This is a fortunate development, because, apart from Phoenician coinage(4), there are indeed comparatively few wen preserved relics 67