Centuries Ago, Japanese Warriors Buried A Hoard Of More Than 100,000 Coins, And Archaeologists Dug Them Up
Centuries ago, Japanese warriors may have buried a hoard of more than 100,000 coins. Last year, archaeologists in Japan dug them up.
The coin stash was unearthed during excavations in advance of the construction of a factory in Maebashi, a city located about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo.
The oldest of the coins originated from China and dated back to 175 B.C. It contains a Chinese inscription of “Banliang,” which translates to “half an ounce.”
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Banliang coins were made in China around 2,200 years ago.
The most recent coin dated to A.D. 1265. The coins were found in 1,060 bundles. Each bundle contained approximately 100 coins.
Several coin hoards have been discovered throughout Japan before. Most of the buried coins were from Japan’s medieval period, from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
The Japanese did not start producing their own metal currency until the late 7th century. They modeled the pieces after Chinese coins with square holes in the middle. The holes allowed people to string large amounts of coins together. In general, they would add 100 coins per string.
In the mid-10th century, the Japanese stopped making their own coins due to a lack of copper ore and economic changes. Sometimes, Chinese coins were used instead.
So, it would not be surprising if many of the coins from the hoard were from the Northern Song dynasty (960 to 1127). During the Northern Song, large numbers of coins were manufactured.
However, the coins lost their value after they were invaded by a nomadic group called the Jurchen in the early 12th century.
People became more willing to use them for buying goods abroad. Experts have debated over why so many coin hoards were buried in Japan.
“The hoards may have functioned as a bank. Another theory is that hoarding had a symbolic meaning, possibly religious,” said William Faris, a professor of Japanese history at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa who was not involved with the discovery. “I favor the theory that the coins were a type of bank for safekeeping.”
Another theory is that the Japanese buried them during times of war. The coins are heavy and bulky, which would make fleeing from the enemy quite difficult. Other scholars have suggested that the coins were buried as offerings to the gods.
Since the latest coin in the hoard dates to 1265, the collection must have been deposited into the ground shortly afterward. This dates to the Kamakura period when Japanese warriors established the shogunate near modern-day Tokyo.
The hoard’s location and time period indicate that it was buried by warriors in the region. Some of the coins have been displayed in an exhibit in the lobby of the Maebashi Cultural Protection Division.
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