Old currencies “Rising Sun” offer links from Bangladesh to Vietnam

Archaeologists analyzed more than 200 coins from the first millennium from the main mainland of South Asia, and revealed economic connections for long distances throughout the region, which facilitated commercial and cultural interaction.

As it dates back to the second century AD, Chinese records record the importance of policies in Southeast Asia in the commercial networks extending from the Near East to China.

This archaeological evidence supports, with fossils in Southeast Asia to detect commercial commodities such as Roman glass utensils, Indian jewelry, Persian ceramics, southwest of Asian, and Chinese ceramics.

Often these discoveries are silver currencies, which usually depict an emerging sun on one side and srivatsa (an early symbol of Indian religious traditions) on the other hand.

It is made using death: molds in which an empty metal disk is pressed to design a design on both sides.

These coins are found from Bangladesh to Vietnam, which include their entirety from Southeast Asia, but compared to Roman, Indian or Central Currencies from Asia, they remain reasonable.

“There is no other metal currency early in Southeast Asia that appears widely like those who carry the emerging Sun/SRIVATSA decorations,” the author of the countries, Dr. Andrew Harris of the National University of Singapore. “However, metal currencies were rarely analyzed as an integrated gay data collection, as scientists often connect to specific historical cultural groups that are in line with the borders of the modern nation -state.”

To correct this knowledge gap, a multi -institutional project team led by researchers from Singapore National University gathered 245 amazing coins from all over Southeast Asia to examine them as part of a broader economic and cultural network independent of modern borders. Their results are published in the magazine Ancient times.

They found many ties between coins throughout the region, indicating that currency -based economies, and the political ties that have facilitated, have changed widely over time.

Perhaps the most interesting, it is believed that the faces of one currency of Bangladesh and one currency of Vietnam have been produced using the same template, indicating that it may have been exposed to adaptation by the same individual or judgment despite the distance from each other.

“This provides convincing evidence of long -term trading,” says Dr. Harris.

More importantly, this means that the old currency was useful in shaping commercial and cultural ties in Southeast Asia, as is the case in other ancient civilizations with currency economies such as Rome, India and Central Asia.

“The DIE study, which has been presented here has significant effects on understanding trade networks early in Southeast Asia, provides an insightful view of the main ports and settlements, evaluating the role of a weighted silver in old trade, and mapping maps to expand and shrink in the basic currency -based economies in the southeastern programs in the southeast along with the policies that highlight it,” adds participation in the center.

Moreover, it will also help prevent looting and preserve the cultural heritage of the region in the face of continuous conflicts such as the civil war in Myanmar.

Many coins are looted in the early Southeast Asia and illegally circulating, and ends up lower or hidden in private groups. The implementation of death studies on metal currencies will help determine forgery and expose unethical practices.

Dr. Harris concludes that “death studies will help to track the best source of metal currencies from Myanmar, with our understanding of our use in using historical currency and mining practices with help in reducing the facilitation of gathering of ancient in this region.”