Posted on 01/15/2006 5:59:00 PM PST by blam
Tomb of ancient coin collector unearthed
www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-15 14:05:53
XI'AN, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have discovered an ancient tomb, possibly of a coin collector, dating back more than 600 years.
During a recent excavation at a Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) tomb in the suburb of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, archaeologists found over 150 coins of different dynasties, together with 60 ceramic utensils.
Twenty kinds of coins were in circulation in the dynasties of Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Jin (1115-1234), spanning about 600 years. They might have been collected by the owner of the tomb who was interested in ancient coins, archaeologists reckoned.
A dozen pottery servants and some pottery livestock and poultry were also found in the tomb. The 40-cm-high servants have clear facial features and carry vivid expressions, showing better craft than in previous dynasties.
All the unearthed items are in good condition as the tomb was well preserved, said archaeologists.
Archaeologists have also unearthed 259 Wuzhu coins, the common currency in wide circulation during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), in a recent excavation in Pingli County of the history-laden Shaanxi Province. Enditem
GGG Ping.
BTTT
So head to be a coin collector and not just another miser in a long line of misers who preferred to be buried with his money rather than pass it on to the next miserly heir...
Then again, I have an "ancient temple" where the worshippers collected rocks to sell.
Good news for impassioned collectors everywhere! Apparently you *can* take it with you.
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Actually, he ran the first vending machine company.
Sounds like the ancestor of some of our Illinois Tollway Authority workers. There's been some of them caught with large "coin collections" too.
A numanist?Sounds interesting.A collection of coins from different dynasty's?
Enuf to make an archaeologist drool.
Looks like he had coins that covered a thousand years or so.
http://china.org.cn/english/2006/Jan/156092.htm
http://china.org.cn/images/en/2004first/pic.gif
Biggest Palace Structure Discovered in NW China
Archaeologists in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have discovered a large-scale relic site estimated to be 2,200 years old on the outskirts of the provincial capital Xi'an.
The site is the biggest of its kind to have been excavated in the past three decades within the palace grounds of Changle Palace, an imperial residence from the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-25AD)
The unearthed ruins, which lie in the northwest part of the palace grounds, are 160 meters long east-to-west and 50 meters wide north-to-south, with a central structure, according to initial excavation results.
Archaeologists have also identified two courts in the northeast part of the structure, each installed with a sedimentation tank. They are separated by an adobe wall and linked underground by a ceramic pipe. And two other pipes, each over 30 meters long, are believed to have been used to drain the water stored in the tanks.
According to Liu Zhendong, an archaeologist with the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who is leading the archaeological team, the newly discovered ruins are probably the main structure, namely the front hall of the Changle Palace, or the main imperial court.
Liu also implied that there could have been a passageway that linked the two sites, which are only 30 meters apart.
The discovery will offer new clues to the study of the layout and history of ancient Chinese palaces, Liu said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2006)
Darn I searched on coins not coin.
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