Currency of Zhou Dynasty: 1. The currency of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Natural seashells are still an important currency. Metal currency is widely used and bronze shell coins have appeared.
2. Eastern Zhou Dynasty: divided into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China’s slave society collapsed and the feudal society gradually established a period of great change. The changes in production relations promoted the development of social economy. . Due to the differences in the degree of political, economic, and cultural development in different regions, as well as the differences in habits, the currency forms of this period are diverse. In addition to the cloth coins in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there are also knife coins, ring coins, ant nose coins, and Yao Jin and so on.
西周贝币
In the ancient tombs at the Waliu site in Zhengzhou, the staff of the Zhengzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology unearthed 11 pieces dating back 3000 Many years of shellfish. Archaeologists at the scene said that these unearths once again proved that there was a relatively active remote trade in Zhengzhou at that time.
The ancient tombs at the Waliu site in Zhengzhou are located in the open space that will be built as a library on the west campus of Zhengzhou University. On the afternoon of June 21st, when the reporter arrived at the scene, the archaeologists were still carefully cleaning the unearthed objects in the ancient tomb. It is understood that the 12 ancient tombs excavated and numbered by archaeologists are all ancient tombs of the Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty about 3000 years ago.
After intensive excavation and cleaning, archaeologists found 11 shell coins in tombs No. 3 and 4. The 8 shell coins found in Tomb No. 3 are larger in shape, resembling an adult's thumb; the 3 shell coins in Tomb No. 4 are obviously smaller and look like jujube nuclei, shaped like an adult's little finger. There are round holes drilled and ground on the back of the shell coin, with obvious signs of man-made. The archaeologists at the scene preliminarily determined that the 11 shell coins of the Western Zhou period have a history of more than 3000 years. The archaeologists added that shellfish live in the ocean and Zhengzhou is located in the Central Plains. Shell coins were unearthed to prove that remote trade already existed at that time. The unearthed 11 shell coins played an extremely important role in studying the history, culture and living customs of the time.
In the chamber of Tomb No. 2, archaeologists unearthed a well-preserved human skeleton. What's more peculiar is that there is a "waist pit" 50 cm long, 25 cm wide, and 20 cm deep at the waist of the skeleton. The dog's skeleton is found in the waist pit. According to archaeologists, the use of dogs for burial was a major feature of burial at the time.
Eastern Zhou currency
Eastern Zhou mint coins include cloth coins, knife coins, round coins, gold and silver coins, etc. The coins circulating in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty also have their own characteristics. The emergence of currency metal coins in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty marked the important development of social economy and historical progress. The currency that first appeared in the late Spring and Autumn Period was the earliest metal coinage in China, and entered the stage of development during the Warring States Period. Before the Spring and Autumn Period, the exchange mainly used physical objects such as shells, linen, tools or copper blocks as equivalents. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, due to the increase in social productivity, physical currency was gradually replaced by metal coins with a fixed shape and weight.
Eastern Zhou Dynasty, major countries such as Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Sanjin Dynasty, Yan, Qi, Chu, Qin, etc. had a large number of coins, including copper coins, gold and silver coins.
Copper coins Copper coins were the most popular currency in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which was the main currency in circulation in Central Plains countries at that time. According to the shape of the copper coin, it can be divided into four types: cloth coin, knife coin, round coin, and copper shell
