Archaeologists analyzing over 200 coins dating back to the first millennium CE found that these pieces of silver indicate extensive economic connections in Southeast Asia at the time. A coin found in present-day Bangladesh and one discovered about 1,000 miles away in Vietnam were likely minted by the same person. The findings are detailed in a study published August 12 in the journal Antiquity.
As early as the second century CE, Chinese records indicate that government policies and trade networks facilitated extensive trade across the region. These routes stretched thousands of miles from the eastern Mediterranean and northern parts of Africa to China. Archeological evidence supports these documents. Excavations throughout Southeast Asia have uncovered Indian jewelery, Roman glassware, and ceramics from Persia, China, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Silver coins commonly depicting a rising sun on one side and an early symbol of Indian religious traditions called the Srivatsa on the other are often associated with these finds. Archeologists have uncovered these coins from present-day Bangladesh south to Vietnam, an area that encompasses all of Indianized Southeast Asia. By comparison to Indian, Roman, or Central Asian coins, these pieces of silver remain understudied.
“No other early Southeast Asian coinage exhibits as widespread a distribution as those bearing Rising Sun/Srivatsa motifs,” Andrew Harris, a study co-author and archaeologist at the National University of Singapore, said in a statement. “However, the coins have rarely been analyzed as an integrated artefactual dataset, with scholars often associating them with specific cultural-historical groups aligned with modern nation-state boundaries.”
[ Related: Archeologists uncover hoard of gold coins linked to ancient mercenaries. ]
To fill in this knowledge gap, the team collected 245 coins from across Southeast Asia housed in museums and studied how they related as part of a broader economic and cultural network that is independent of modern borders. They found several links between the coins over the whole region. This indicates that the currency-based economies and political connections that facilitated them went through huge changes over time.Â
For example, the primary side of one coin from Bangladesh and another from Vietnam are believed to have been produced using the same die. Dies are molds that use a blank metal disk to press the imprint of a design onto both sides of a coin. Since they were likely produced with the same die, the coins may have been minted by the same individual or group despite being found roughly 1,000 miles away from each other. Â
“This offers compelling evidence of extensive long-distance circulation,” said Harris.
This also means that ancient coinage like these silver pieces played an instrumental role in shaping trade and cultural connections in Southeast Asia. This mirrors what occurred in other ancient civilizations with currency economies, including Rome, India, Central Asia, and likely during the Viking Age.
“The die study presented here has considerable implications for understanding early Southeast Asian trade networks, providing insights into key ports and settlements, further assessing the role of weighted silver in ancient trade, and mapping the expansion and contraction of currency-based economies in mainland Southeast Asia along with the polities that minted them,” study co-author and National University of Singapore statistician Maria De Iorio added.
Studies like these could also prevent looting and preserve the region’s important cultural heritage in the face of conflicts such as the Myanmar civil war, which began in 2021. Coins are often looted and traded illicitly, ultimately being melted down or tucked away in private collections. Research that uses dies and other types of molds to pinpoint where coins originated can help experts identify forgeries and expose unethical practices.Â
“Die studies will assist in better tracing the provenance of coins from Myanmar, advancing our understanding of historical coin usage and minting practices while helping to curtail the illicit facilitation of antique-coin collection in this region,” said Harris.
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