In the pre-Qin period, there were many types of money, such as shells, cloth, round money, knives and so on. Before Qin Shi Huang unified the whole country, these banknotes were called pre-Qin currencies. The earliest currency of the ancient mainland is shell coins, that is, shells. The original shellfish coins were produced in the Shang Dynasty, three thousand years from now, and it is the ancestor of coins and a processed shellfish currency.
In the tomb of the Yin Ruins in Henan, not only tools, supplies, miscellaneous utensils, ornaments and other things have been unearthed, but also more than 7,000 shell coins. In the Shang Dynasty, the "Punbei" system was implemented, in order to make it easier for people to convert, 1 peng was equal to 5 sea shells, or 10 small sea shells. It is said that this is equal to the number of 700 friends and can be exchanged for 90 fields. It can be seen that the value of these shell coins is already very high.
Let's take a closer look at the word "goods" related to money, which is also related to the word "shell". During the Xia and Shang dynasties, people basically used shell coins, copper shells, shell clams and other currencies. When archaeologists excavated the sites of the Xia and Shang Dynasties, they found a large number of natural shells, which shows that there was indeed a saying that shells were used as currency at that time. The time when the shell was used as currency also lasted until the Spring and Autumn Period.
There are also historical reasons why shells can become currency, in the late Neolithic period, when people did not know what metal was, and items with brightly colored, strong and durable characteristics like shells just became a favorite ornament of the original inhabitants. In addition, it is easy to carry and can also be used to count, so in the later development, it naturally became the earliest currency.
Some people think that since natural shells are a kind of currency, why don't ordinary people go to the river to pick them up? Doesn't that accumulate money faster? In this regard, experts also said that people who do not pick up shells are smart people. First of all, these shells are not picked up and can be used directly as currency, it needs to be re-polished by craftsmen first, and then there are grinding holes at both ends, which will be convenient for people to use after perforation.
In addition, not all shells can become money, there must be a division of species, for example, the use of some more beautiful shells, such as tabby shells, Arvin shells, jujube shells, etc., these shells are very precious, equivalent to the current gold and silver and jewelry, after all, rare is expensive.
The most important point is that the shell that acts as currency is sufficiently complete. Therefore, the number of shellfish that can become money is very small. At that time, the law on the country had also appeared, and if the people rushed to pick up these shells, they would be severely punished and even lose their lives. Therefore, even if the shells are picked up, the role of the people is still not great.