A Study on the Xiwang Shanggong Coins Unearthed at the Jiangkou Site in Pengshan, Sichuan

Abstract

An archaeological excavation was jointly conducted by organizations including the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute in the first half of 2017 in the Jiangkou stretch of the Minjiang River in Pengshan District, Meizhou, Sichuan Province, where more than two hundred gold and silver xiwang shanggong coins were unearthed. This was the first time that the existence of xiwang shanggong coins was proved by a systematic archaeological excavation, providing a scientific basis for solving the long-standing unresolved historical problem. By sorting out the academic history of xiwang shanggong coins, this paper points out that in the past seven years, these coins have experienced the transition from being dug by robbers to being excavated scientifically, and have turned from a hot topic in collection to one in academia. This paper summarizes the characteristics of these gold and silver coins and presents an idea that those coins may have never been officially issued. Some of the coins have residual traces of being burnt, which may provide physical proof to prove the event in historical records that the fleet of Zhang Xianzhong was burnt by the army of Yang Zhan in the early Qing Dynasty. By using these unearthed xiwang shanggong coins as the standard and comparing them with some of the handed-down counterparts, this paper makes an in-depth analysis on the authenticity of the handed-down coins and indicates that some of the gold and silver ones may be authentic while some copper ones may be counterfeit.

Keywords

Jiangkou site in Pengshan, xiwang shanggong 西王赏功, unearthed coins, handed-down coins, coins of merit

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