3,500 Kg of Coins Discovered in China

3,500 kilograms?  What were they made of?  Precious metals?  Just plain metal (bronze, for instance?)  If the coins weren't valuable, why were people evidently stealing them???  I wonder how many were stolen, and where those coins ended up! 

Reported at The Times of India

Huge quantity of ancient coins found in China

IANS Dec 30, 2012, 06.11PM IST

 

BEIJING: Archaeologists have excavated about 3,500kg of ancient coins in China's Inner Mongolia Region, Xinhua reported on Sunday. Most of these coins were in prevalence during the Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD).

 

According to Lian Jilin, a researcher with the regional Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the coins were found in three millennia-old coin pits in the ancient town of Huoluochaideng after police cracked three theft cases.

 

Most of the coins were "Huoquan", the coins commonly used in the Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), said Lian.

 

Archaeologists also excavated over 100 casting moulds from the relics of a coin workshop. The moulds are believed to date back to the rule of Emperor Wudi (156 BC-87 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty and the short-lived Xin Dynasty (45 BC-23 AD) founded by Wang Mang.

 

Based on its size and cultural relics uncovered there, Huoluochaideng town is believed to have been a major town in northern China during the Han Dynasty, said Lian.

 

The findings are significant in the study of the ancient monetary system and casting technology, he added.

 

 

See also a report at Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues December 31, 2012. 

Treasure Trove: Two Tons of Ancient Coins!

Ohmygoddess! Here's the story: Two tonnes of ancient coins found in history-laden Chinese province www.chinaview.cn 2009-06-10 15:49:24 XI'AN, June 10 (Xinhua) -- More than two tonnes of ancient coins dating back to as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907) have been unearthed on a playground of a primary school in Shaanxi Province, northwest China. Zhao Aiguo, director of the cultural relics protection and tourism bureau in Liquan County, Shaanxi, told Xinhua Wednesday that the coins were found when workers were excavating the grounds Tuesday for construction of another building. They reported their discovery to the bureau and soon more than 70 archaeologists, officials and police were sent to the site. It took more than five hours to dig the ancient coins out of a vault made of grey bricks. Zhao said they were in circulation for more than 750 years during the Tang, Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) Dynasties. The vault measures 1.5 meters in width and length and one meter in height. It is believed to have been built during the Yuan Dynasty. The coins have been sent to a local museum and archaeologists were counting them. Because there were so many, it might take a week to know the exact number and categories, Zhao said. The site of the discovery was part of a temple built by an ancient emperor in memory of his mother between 180 BC and 157 BC. Zhao cited archaeologists as saying that the coins might be donations from believers who visited the temple. In 2006, archaeologists in the same province discovered an ancient tomb, possibly of a coin collector, dating back more than 600 years. It contained more than 150 coins of 20 kinds from the Tang, Song and Jin (1115-1234) Dynasties, spanning about 600 years. Editor: Yao