Archaeologists have unearthed more than two million copper coins from an ancient complex of tombs in the Xinjian District of China.
The 2,000-year-old money, which bears Chinese symbols, characters, and a square hole in the centre, was found at a dig site in the city of Nanchang.
The value of the coins is said to be around £104,000 ($157,340) and experts believe the main tomb is that of Liu He – the grandson of Emperor Wu, the greatest ruler of Han Dynasty.
Archaeologists have unearthed more than two million copper coins from an ancient complex of tombs in the Xinjian District of China
The dynasty ruled between 206 BC and 25 AD
Experts hope the discovery – which also includes 10,000 other gold, bronze and iron items, chimes, bamboo slips, and tomb figurines – may now shed more light on the life of nobility from ancient times.
The find follows a five-year excavation process on the site which houses eight tombs and a chariot burial site.
It covers (430,550 sq ft (40,000 square metres) with walls that stretch for almost 9,690 ft (900 metres) and experts believe Liu’s wife is buried in one of the tombs, RT reported.
Xin Lixiang of the China National Museum said the next step is to look within the tomb for items that will give a clearer idea of the occupant.
‘There may be a royal seal and jade clothes that will suggest the status and idenтιтy of the tomb’s occupant,’ he said.
Chinese people started using coins as currency around 1,200 BC, where instead of trading small farming implements and knives, they would melt them down into small round objects and then turn them back into knives and farm implements when needed.
It meant early coins were known as ‘knife money’ or ‘tool money’, and as people began to rely on them more for commerce they were replaced by copper coins which were of very low value and often had holes in the middle.
The hole meant the coins could be strung together to create larger denominations, with typically around 1,000 coins on a single string being worth one tael of pure silver.
