Pluto coins are funerary items specially made for funerals according to the shape of circulating currency, with copper, lead, tin, clay, paper and other textures. During the Warring States Qin and Han Dynasties, the number of clay coins found was large, the distribution range was wide, and the use time was long, which can better reflect the problems related to the burial of the coins in this period. Clay coins are mainly modeled on gold coins and copper coins, and their types and distribution are more obvious in stages and regions, which are related to the funerary customs of Chu culture. Although the coin does not have economic attributes, the cultural significance it represents is inseparable from the political and economic conditions of the society at that time. The study of the Warring States Qin and Han dynasties has important value in exploring the development process of ancient Chinese coin culture, understanding the funerary customs of the society at that time, and exploring the cultural significance of ancient coins.
First, a brief history of research and related definitions
The Warring States Qin and Han dynasties were discovered earlier, but they have not attracted much attention. Fu Juliang, Zhou Shirong, Wu Xinghan and other scholars have successively studied the types, shapes, and ages of the Chu tomb burial coins, and have focused on the gold plate and achieved certain results. When Discussing the issue of Chu and Han gold coins, Mr. An Zhimin, Huang Shengzhang and others also discussed the types of gold plates and gold cakes. Mr. Jiang Ruoruo discussed the small, thin and inferior copper coins of the Qin and Han dynasties unearthed in the Central Plains as metal coins. On the whole, the existing research is still small, mainly focusing on the classification of the shape of the coin, the comparison with the circulating currency, etc., and the attention to the characteristics of the burial of the coin and the burial customs is slightly insufficient. During this period, there were many kinds and large numbers of clay coins unearthed, but there was still a lack of specialized and systematic collation and research. As a part of the burial culture, the coin is not only related to the burial customs and monetary system, but also reflects the economic level and wealth concept of the society to a certain extent, and the rich excavated materials in various places provide a basis for exploring the cultural connotation of the coin.
At present, the names of clay coins in the academic circles are relatively diverse, and this paper is unified in the study as follows: the gold plate refers to the coin made of the gold plate of the Chu Kingdom, the gold cake refers to the coin made of the cake-shaped gold coin, and the mud coin refers to the coin made of copper coins. The chronology of this paper mainly refers to the staging and generational research results of the multi-volume Chinese Archaeology.
Second, the discovery, type and production method of clay coins
Among the above three types of clay coins, the number of mud coins is the largest, followed by the gold cake, and the number of gold plates is smaller. The following is a description of the discovery, shape characteristics and production methods of various types of clay coins.
(i) The illuminated version
The illuminated version is mainly found in the tombs of the Warring States to the early Western Han Dynasty, and some are slightly later. At present, the earlier discovery date is the Changsha Bullet Kuchu Tomb at the turn of the middle and late Warring States period, the gold plate was placed in the bamboo reed, there are hundreds of pieces; in the late Warring States period, in addition to Hunan, there are scattered discoveries in Hubei, Anhui, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places; the number of excavations in the early Western Han Dynasty has increased significantly, Hunan is centered on Changsha, and there are more discoveries in Yiyang, Changde and other places, and the distribution range of Zhejiang and Anhui has also expanded. The number of gold plates buried with a single tomb varies significantly from place to place, with more in Hunan and Zhejiang, with the former unearthing hundreds of single tombs and fewer burials in other regions.
The more complete illuminated version can be roughly divided into square, rectangular and arc-edged sharp-angled quadrilaterals, the first two are most common in Hunan, and the third is found more in Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The illuminated version is mostly plate-like, some cross-sections are curved, slightly tile-like, the size changes greatly with the shape, the side length of the square is generally 4.5 to 6.5 cm, and the thickness is mostly 0.5 to 0.8 cm. Some are not high or have not been fired, and they have been broken when they are unearthed, and the texture is harder when the firing temperature is higher. Most of the illuminated versions are gray or red, some are coated with yellow (gold) powder, some are black, some are glazed with yellow brown, and some are coated with lead skin.
The form and quantity of stamps on the Chu Gold Plate are not uniform. The same is true of the illuminated plates, which are more common in 4, 9, 12, and 16 ingots, and there are differences in the size of individual ingots. The contents of the ingot on the illuminated plate can be roughly divided into two types. The first type with text, the content is "郢 (郢)" (Fig. 1, 1), "郢" (Fig. 1, 2), "Yan" (Fig. 1, 3), "Two" (Fig. 1, 4), "Gold" (Fig. 1, 5), "Gold", "1,000,000 Gold" (Fig. 1, 6), etc., and some are difficult to distinguish symbols (Fig. 1, 7). The arrangement of the text is not uniform, taking "Yin" as an example, the two words are both horizontal and vertical in one grid (Figure 1, 8), and there are also two words occupying one block each (Figure 1, 9). The second kind of no text, generally only draws a square line, there are large squares (Figure 1, 10), and some draw small squares in the large squares (Figures 1, 11), which should be simplified forms, and even more simplified is to carve the mat pattern. The grid lines and text on the illuminated plate are molded yang, and the yin text is rare.
Based on the above characteristics, it is speculated that there are two ways to make the illuminated version. One is the overall stencil, that is, the stencil pattern is engraved with a full-page square and text, directly on the clay plate embossed (see Figure 1, 5). The square lines are carved out of the overall plan, the ingots are arranged neatly, and there are certain differences in the text within each ingot, which can be seen that the text on the stencil model is engraved separately. The other is single-grid stencils, that is, only a single-grid content is engraved on the stencil template, which needs to be embossed on the clay plate multiple times (see Figures 1, 2). Due to the lack of unified planning, the arrangement of inboxes is not neat, the number of inline grids is uncertain, and the shade of embossing is also slightly different, but the fonts of ingots are more consistent.
From the late Warring States period to the early Western Han Dynasty, the flat shape of the illuminated version did not change much, but its content and form underwent great changes. The newly emerged contents such as "two" and "gold" are a reflection of the monetary system in the Qin and Han dynasties, and the arrangement of words is more diverse, and some are more simplified. In addition, glazed pottery gold plates have appeared.
(ii) Gold cakes
The mud cake is the most widely excavated and longest-used clay coin excavated in the Warring States Qin and Han Dynasties. It is known that the three tombs of Li Jiatai Chu in Jiangling, The Chu Tombs of Mashan in Jiangling and the Chu Tombs in Zuogongshan in Changsha are relatively old, about the late period of the Middle Warring States period. In the late Warring States period, more Tombs of Chu in Changsha were excavated, and there were individual discoveries in Henan. The scope of excavation of mud cakes in the Han Dynasty was further expanded. Hunan is the most excavated, spreading throughout most of the province, dating from the early Western Han Dynasty to Xinmang. Zhejiang is secondary, and there are many excavations in the tombs of the middle Of the Western Han Dynasty to the early Eastern Han Dynasty in Huzhou, Yuhang, Hangzhou and other places north of the Qiantang River, and there are sporadic discoveries in Shaoxing. The gilded cakes in Jiangsu are mainly from the early and middle tombs of the Western Han Dynasty in Xuzhou, and individual discoveries in yangzhou are as late as the Xinmang period. A small number of tombs in the early and middle Western Han Dynasties in Hefei, Huainan, Anqing, Lu'an and other places in Anhui Have been excavated in small quantities. A small number of tombs have been found in the tombs of the late Western Han Dynasty to the late Eastern Han Dynasty in Nanyang and Luoyang, Henan. In addition, there are sporadic discoveries in Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hebei and other places.
The planar of the mud cake is basically circular, and the upper part is diverse, flat or concave. Most of them are aquat gray, there are a small amount of red, brown, black, unburned or low temperature texture is soft and fragile, high fire is hard texture, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places unearthed hard pottery or glazed pottery gold cake. The mud cakes are generally molded, and some of them still have shiatsu marks on the bottom. The surface is plain or decorated, in addition to the mold printing ornamentation, some apply black and white pottery clothes, some coat yellow (gold) powder, white (silver) powder, to symbolize gold cake or silver cake, Luoyang late Eastern Han Dynasty gold cake has black, white, Zhu, green four colors. Some gold cakes also have words or symbols such as "worth 90,000", "ten", "worth 10,000" and so on.
The bottom diameter of the excavated mud cake is mostly 4 to 6.5 cm, and there are a small amount of less than 3 cm, such as the gold cake excavated from the Tomb of The Second Han dynasty in Mancheng, which may be related to the shape of the monetary gold cake. The longitudinal section of the marigold varies greatly, and can be roughly divided into the following four types accordingly.
Type A: flat round cake shape, some of the middle is slightly thicker, the bottom is flat or slightly concave. It is represented by the M185:40 of the Chu Tomb in Changsha, the excavation of the Chu Tomb of Lijiatai in Jiangling (Fig. 2, 1), and the M3:24 of Xi'an Longshouyuan Western Medicine (Fig. 2, 2) and other marigold cakes.
Type B: The upper part is slightly curved, flat or concave. Such as Yuhang Yiqiao M56B:36, Changsha Literacy Ridge M3:15-1 (Figure 2, 3), Lu'an Shuanglong M094:004 (Figure 2, 4) and other gold cakes.
Type C: the upper part has a large curvature, some are nearly steamed or semi-circular, flat or concave. Such as Xuzhou Sushantou M2:53, Changde Nanping D8M3:29-2 (Figure 2, 5), Hangzhou Daguanshan Orchard M11:15-4 (Figure 2, 6) and other gold cakes.
Type D: The upper part is towering, tower-shaped or mountain-like, with a flat bottom or concave interior. Such as Hengyang Xuanbitang M3:21, Nanyang Yizhong M256:31, Huzhou Bailongshan M29:14 (Figure 2, 7) and other gold cakes.
Judging from the excavations, the C type loess has the largest number, followed by the B type, and the least type D. Type A appeared earliest, and the Warring States mud cake basically belonged to this type, and there were still sporadic discoveries in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In the early Western Han Dynasty, there were more B types, and C types appeared but were fewer in number. More specially, the gold cake excavated from the early tomb of the Shanxi Han Dynasty in Yongcheng Is made by imitating the hollow style gold cake on the back (Figure 2, 8), and this shape system is currently only seen in one case. Since the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the number of gold cakes buried in Hunan and Zhejiang has increased, and all types have been found, with the C type being the most. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the number of burial mud cakes was greatly reduced, mainly excavated in Luoyang and Nanyang, and there were individual discoveries in Xi'an, which were basically the same as those of the late Western Han Dynasty. Since then, the gold cake has basically disappeared from the tomb with the burial items.
The marfiles of the Warring States period are all plain noodles. In the Han Dynasty, in addition to a small number of plain noodles, most of the mud cakes were molded with ornaments, and the regional differences in these ornaments were more obvious, and there was still a difference in time between morning and evening in the Hunan region where it had been used for a long time. In the early Western Han Dynasty of Hunan, the mud cake was mainly decorated with cirrus cloud patterns (see Figure 2, 3) and chord patterns, which also appeared in combination; in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, a new oblique checkered pattern (Figure 3, 1) and a connected cirrus pattern (Figure 3, 2); in the late Western Han Dynasty, the cirrus pattern was simplified, and new milk patterns, petal patterns, petal star patterns, etc. appeared (see Figure 2, 5). The marigold cake in Zhejiang is mainly decorated with irregular curve patterns, the length and arrangement of the curves are not regular, and there are convex string patterns or poke dots ranging from one to three weeks on the edge of the curve pattern (see Figure 2, 6, 7), and also see the milk butadiene pattern and cirrus pattern (Figure 3, 3, 4); the more characteristic is that the top center of the marigold cake has a diamond shape, double circle, persimmon pattern, etc., which is different from the small pit in the top center of other regions. These kinds of ornaments have been found from the middle of the Western Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The mud cake excavated from Jiangsu and Anhui is decorated with string patterns, cirrus patterns and irregular curve patterns, and the string patterns are divided into concentric circles and swirling patterns (Fig. 3, 5); cirrus molases are generally combined with chord patterns and milk patterns (Fig. 3, 6). The marigold cakes unearthed in Shaanxi are mainly composed of string patterns and swirls, and individually decorated with swirling papillary patterns (Figure 3, 7). The marigold cakes unearthed in Henan are mainly composed of deformed dragon patterns and milk butadiene patterns (Fig. 3, 8). The ornamentation on the Gold Cake of the Han Dynasty may be influenced by the ornamentation of other utensils, such as tiles, pottery, etc., such as the petal star pattern on the Hunan Mud Cake is similar to the local talc pattern.
(iii) Mud money
Mud money is mainly found in Han Dynasty tombs, there are five kinds of mud half two coins, mud five baht money, mud spring fifty, mud goods spring and no paper mud money.
The mud and half two coins are excavated the most from the early tombs of the Western Han Dynasty in Changde and Changsha, Hunan, and have also been found in Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu and other places, and more than 10,000 mud and half two coins have been unearthed in a Han tomb in Yizheng. After the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the mud and half two coins gradually disappeared. The shape of the mud half two coins is divided into two kinds, the large one is 2.6 to 3 cm in diameter, and the few are above 3 cm, wearing widths ranging from 0.6 to 0.95 cm and thicknesses of 0.5 cm (Figure 4, 1, 2); small diameters of 2 to 2.5 cm, wearing widths of 0.7 cm, thickness of 0.35 to 0.5 cm, and individual diameters below 2 cm (Figure 4, 3, 4). The perforations are more irregular. Qianwen is mainly in Yang script, many Qianwen are reversed left and right (see Figure 4, 2), some "two" characters are simplified (Figure 4, 5), and some are Yin (Figure 4, 6).
The excavation range of mud five-baht coins is wider than that of mud half two dollars. Hunan is still the largest number of excavations, in Changde, Changsha, Zhuzhou, Xiangxi and many other areas have been found, Zhejiang, Henan, Guangxi and other places have also unearthed a large number of excavations, Shanghai Fuquan Mountain Han Tomb unearthed tens of thousands of mud five baht coins. The largest number of mud five-baht coins were excavated in the tombs of the middle and late Western Han Dynasties, and were mainly excavated in Nanyang, Henan during the Xinmang and Eastern Han Dynasties. The diameter of mud five-baht coins is mostly 2.5 to 2.8 cm, some are larger, the perforation is square and round, the wearing width varies, and the thickness is about 0.3 to 0.5 cm. Most of the qianwen is yang, some yin, some of the qian text is written backwards (Figure 5, 1), the word "baht" is mostly simplified (Figure 5, 2, 3) or alien (Figure 5, 4, 5), and some are vague. The mud five-baht coin excavated from Nanyang Yizhong is more special, with round holes and the text is yin (Figure 5, 6).
The Mud Springs of the Fifty and The Mud Cargo Springs were mainly excavated from the tombs of Xinmang to the early Eastern Han Dynasty in Nanyang and Luoyang, and were found less in other areas. The diameter of the mud spring is about 2.5 to 2.7 cm, the width of the wear is 0.6 to 0.8 cm, and the thickness varies from 0.4 to 0.7 cm (Figure 6, 1). Mud springs are generally 2.3 in diameter and 0.8 cm in width (Fig. 6, 2). There are two kinds of perforations of mud money, square and round, and most of the money is yin and a few are yang.
Wuwen mud money has been found in the tombs of the middle of the Western Han Dynasty in Changsha, Xiangtan and other places, but more tombs in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty in Nanyang have been excavated. The perforations are square and round, with a diameter of about 2.4 cm and a large difference in thickness (Fig. 6, 3). Some were excavated alone, and some were produced with mud five baht money and mud spring fifty.
The texture of mud money is generally soft, the heat is very low or unburned, and the molding method is mainly molded. Among the excavated mud coins, there are two kinds of molded yang and yin scripts. Yangwen clay coins are embossed with engraved money molds. Judging from the arrangement and writing of the words on the clay coins, it is possible that they are directly made of copper coin stencils. Mud money body is thicker, the shape of the money and perforation is irregular, the circular perforation may be pierced by a thin cylindrical object, the money text is mostly random and irregular, and the phenomenon of reverse writing and simplification of the money text is more common.
Third, the burial characteristics of clay coins
During the Warring States And Qin and Han Dynasties, although the status of clay coins in burial items was not prominent, their production and popularity time and regional characteristics were more obvious, and they also showed certain characteristics in the mutual combination of the three types of clay coins, the combination with copper coins, and the relationship with tomb ranks.
(1) The temporal and spatial characteristics of the burial of clay coins
Clay coins appeared roughly in the late middle of the Warring States period, reached prosperity in the Western Han Dynasty, and began to decline during the Eastern Han Dynasty, greatly reducing their distribution range and the number of excavations, and then basically disappeared. There are differences in the types and distribution areas of clay coins at different stages. In the middle and late Warring States period, clay coins mainly included gold cakes and gold plates, which appeared at about the same time, and both were excavated in Hunan. Compared with the gold cake, the excavation range of the gold plate is wider and the number is also greater, indicating that its popularity should be higher than that of the gold cake, which is consistent with the situation that the gold plate in circulation in the Chu State is mainly in the form of gold plates, and the use of gold cake may be less. In the early Western Han Dynasty, there were new mud and half coins; the gold plate still occupied an important position in Hunan and Anhui, and with the changes in the monetary system, new contents and forms were produced; the number of gold cakes began to increase, and although the number of excavations in Xuzhou and Xi'an was not large, only a kind of mud gold cake was seen. In the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, mud five-baht money gradually replaced mud half two coins; the mud gold version was greatly reduced and gradually disappeared; the gold cake occupied an absolute advantage, with Hunan and Zhejiang as the distribution center, influenced by regional culture, Zhejiang mostly saw glazed pottery gold cake. At the beginning of the new mang period, although the new clay money appeared, the amount of mud cake and mud money began to decrease significantly compared with the previous period. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the clay coins were dominated by a small amount of gold cakes unearthed in Luoyang and Nanyang, and the clay coins went into decline.
The clay coins were first found in the late Chu tombs of the middle Warring States period in Jiangling and Changsha, and by the late Warring States period, the distribution range expanded to the area around Jinshou County and Suzhou, Anji, Shanghai and other places. Among these areas, the Chu state had built capitals in Hubei and Anhui successively, and the two places were the central areas of Chu culture; and the Chu people had entered Hunan in the early Spring and Autumn Period, which was a sub-central area of Chu culture; the former Wu land centered on Suzhou was the fiefdom of Chun Shenjun in the late Warring States period, an important stronghold in the eastern border of the Chu state, and also the central area of Jiangdong Chu culture. It can be seen from this that the clay coins of the Warring States period were mainly excavated in the chu cultural center area. During the Western Han Dynasty, although the distribution range of clay coins was expanded, there were only sporadic discoveries in Shaanxi, Hebei, Guangxi and other places, and some of them may be related to population migration. In the territory of the former Chu State, its scope expansion and quantity increase were even more impressive, that is, the Han Dynasty clay coins were still mainly from the land of "Three Chus". Not only that, the excavation of clay coins in the Han Dynasty also shows that in the territory of Sanchu, the central area of Chu culture or the area with a long and deep influence of Chu culture is still the mainstay. This is most evident in the Eastern Chu region. Most of the clay coins unearthed in Zhejiang are concentrated in the area north of the Qiantang River, which was divided into the territory of the Chu state after the defeat of the Chu Wei king in the middle of the Warring States period; in the late Warring States period, Chun Shenjun changed the title of Wu's homeland, and the Area around Taihu Lake also became a center of Chu culture during this period. The area south of the Qiantang River is deeply influenced by the Yue culture, and it is rare to see clay coins unearthed.
(ii) The coexistence of various types of clay coins
During the Warring States period, the gold plate and the gold cake were generally excavated separately, and it has not yet been seen that the two are produced together. In the early Western Han Dynasty, most of the mud plates were produced with mud and half two coins, some with the mud cake, and some with the three, such as the Changde Zhangshushan M30. At present, only one gold plate has been found to be the same as the mud five-baht coin, which is also the latest excavation date of the current gold plate, which is the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. The burial time of mud cake is the longest, and it is mostly produced with mud money from the early Western Han Dynasty, of which it is most common to produce with mud five-baht money. Most of the mud and half coins were excavated separately, followed by the same as the gold plate, and less with the gold cake. At present, it has not been seen that the mud half two dollars and the mud five baht money are out together. In addition to the mud five-baht money, in addition to the same as the gold cake, there are more cases of separate excavations, and some are produced with mud money or unscripted mud money. Mud money is generally excavated separately in xin mang tombs, and a few are produced with the uneducated mud money. In addition to the above two kinds of mud money, there are also separate excavations.
(3) The relationship between clay coins and circulating currency and burial specifications
Clay coins were originally made in imitation of gold coins, and later added the form of imitation copper coins. The gold version was the circulating currency of the Chu state during the Warring States period. Judging from the excavation of the gold plate, the gold plate may still be circulating in the Hunan region in the early Western Han Dynasty, and some scholars have pointed out that it is related to the minting of money in the Western Han Dynasty Changsha State. In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the disappearance of the gilded version and the popularity of mud money and gold cakes showed from one side that the unified monetary system was effectively implemented throughout the country. The continuous use of the mud cake shows that the gold cake is a gold currency form that has always existed during the Warring States Qin and Han Dynasties. The type of burial mud coins is roughly consistent with the changes in circulating coins, and in the early Western Han Dynasty, there was a situation of the same as the circulating copper coins, some mixed the two, some placed the copper coins in the coffin, and the clay coins and pottery were placed outside the coffin.
The Warring States period clay coins were mainly excavated in the tombs of nobles, from the small and medium-sized noble tombs of the scholar and doctor level to the large tombs of the fengjun level, from the excavation situation, the relationship between the number of burials and the level of the tombs seems to be small, and the clay coins have not been found in the civilian tombs at this stage. By the early and middle period of the Western Han Dynasty, in addition to the tombs of small and medium-sized nobles, a large number of clay coins were also excavated in the tombs of high-ranking princes and princes, and the number of mud cakes or mud coins buried in large and medium-sized tombs was significantly more, some as many as thousands, which reflected the difference in the rank of tombs to a certain extent. From the late Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, clay coins were mostly found in small and medium-sized tombs in Henan and Zhejiang that were mainly used for burial with daily pottery, and the tombs of the poor had not yet found the burial clay coins.
Fourth, the aftermath
(i) The naming of the mud cake
At present, the names of the mud cakes in the published materials are mostly inconsistent, and there are many situations such as "mud cakes", "mud ingots", "glazed pottery toe gold", which one is more objective and worth discussing.
The round cake form of gold currency has appeared in the Warring States period and was used in the Qin and Han dynasties. Judging from the excavated materials, the Han Dynasty gold cake mainly has a round cake type and a hollow type in the inner cavity of the oblique wall, the former is more common, and there are two shapes of size. The gold cake is a dark coin that imitates the round cake type gold coin, and this basic form did not change in the Han Dynasty.
Regarding the casting of lin toe gold, the literature is more clear. "In March of the second year of the first year of the Tai Chu, the edict said: 'There is a division to discuss,...... Now more gold for the lin toe to the consequent'. For the kings of the Banzi". The discovery of the tomb of Marquis Haidian provides a basis for solving the shape of lin toe gold and silken gold, but there are still different opinions in the academic community on the nature of the two. As the literature says, the minting of the lin toe gold and the gold was given to the princes and princes, not as a circulating currency, so it is unlikely to be touched by the general nobility or even the general public and imitated as a coin for burial. The text of "Lingzhi Jin Yijin" on the mud cake unearthed in LaoheShan, Hangzhou, should only be an appendage of the craftsman who only hears its name and does not see its shape, and cannot be used as a basis for judging the gold shape system of Lin toe and the designation of such coins.
Therefore, combined with the form of the gold cake in the Warring States And Qin and Han Dynasties, the shape of the unearthed coins, and the background and significance of the gold minting of lin toe, it should be more appropriate to name the excavated cake-shaped mud coins as mud cakes.
(ii) Customs concerning the burial of clay coins
During the Warring States period, metal coinage began to appear commonly, with gold and copper coins as the main forms, and formed the characteristics of the countries. Compared with the Han Dynasty, there were fewer cases of coins buried in warring states tombs, and it was even rarer in the Chu state. During the Qin and Han dynasties, coins were increasingly popular throughout the country, especially the large number of copper coins unearthed from large tombs. Clay coins began to develop from the early Western Han Dynasty in the territory of the former Chu State, and flourished in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty; in addition, it has been pointed out that there are many cases of mud coins and circulating coins. In this way, in the Western Han Dynasty, when coins gradually became popular with burial, the phenomenon and cultural significance of clay coins in the original Chu cultural area deserve further consideration.
The development and spatial distribution of clay coins show that they should belong to the content of Chu culture and burial customs. This should have a lot to do with the fact that the currency of the Chu state is mainly gold. The rarity and preciousness of gold made the Chu people choose imitations for the deceased to bury. In the early and middle Warring States of the Warring States, lead and tin coins have appeared in the Chu State, and in the late period, there are also metal coins wrapped in gold or attached to gold in some higher-level tombs, but the number is very small. Clay coins should be the result of the further instrumentation of metal coins. During the Western Han Dynasty, this burial custom was continued. The regionality and stage of the development of clay coins in the Han Dynasty are related to the trade-off of the two cultural factors of Chu and Han. The establishment of the Unified Empire of the Han Dynasty, the expansion of Han culture, and the exchange and integration of various regions gradually narrowed the large cultural differences that existed between regions during the Warring States period. The development process of clay coins in the Warring States Qin and Han Dynasties is a side reflection of the characteristics of this era.