An Archaeological Study Of Coinage Of The Qi State

Money emerges with human economic activities and the complexity of society.China is one of the earliest countries that use money.Especially in the Eastern Zhou dynasty,metal"coins" with monetary function widely emerged in many states.The money of the State of Qi(usually referring to the knife-shaped "coin",called daobi in Chinese)played an important role in the study of ancient Chinese civilization.Many fruitful studies have been conducted on Qi’s money,but the systematic and integrated research of Qi’s money remains to be carried out with the goal of exploring Qi’s social and economic network and operating system,integrating multidisciplinary methods.In view of this,this paper makes study of Qi’s money,to analyze its shape,casting technology and age,on the basis of defining the concept of Qi’s money and comprehensive statistics of its unearthed conditions,using methods of typology,historical literature analysis,and comparative analysis by scientific and technological testing.From the perspective of settlement archaeology,using the method of spatial analysis,this paper observes the spatial distribution of various forms of Qi’s money,deeply discusses social and economic operations reflected by the spatial distribution such as the social and economic network and the activities of "market" economy,and to some extent deepens the understanding of economic and social operation and state governance in the pre-Qin period.About the shape and age of Qi’s money.From the perspective of archaeological typology,the paper studies Qi money’s types and shapes and observes the characteristics among them,and determines the early or late period these different types and shapes belong to and the chronological framework,according to the weight and size of the money,the change of the characters on the obverse and the reverse,the casting skill of the characters and marks on the reverse,and the scientific and technological testing data,from the perspective of archaeological stratigraphy and by comparing the different archaeological sites and the objects excavated in the same site.The earliest form of the large-size Qi money knife was Jimo Zhi Dadao(namely the five Chinese characters "即墨之大刀" on the obverse,translating as Jimo large knife,cast in Jimo which was located in what is now Pingdu in Shandong),followed by Qi Zhi Dadao(namely the four Chinese characters "之大刀" meaning Qi large knife)and Anyang Zhi Dadao(namely the five Chinese characters"安阳之大刀" meaning Anyang large knife,minted in Anyang which was situated just east of what is now Caoxian County in Shandong).Jimo Zhi Dadao money knife appeared in the late Spring and Autumn Period,and was mainly cast in the early and middle Warring States Period.While the other form of large-size Qi money knife is Qi Dadao with the three characters "齐大刀" on the obverse.It was minted in as early as the time King Weiwang ruled in the middle Warring States Period,and until the demise of Qi.Qi Dadao knife can be divided into two stages according to the obverse and revere characters and casting technology.In the early stage,the inscriptions on the obverse were thin,with few types of inscriptions on the reverse,and with a rigorous casting process.In the later stage,the inscriptions on the obverse were thick and loose,with diverse types of inscriptions on the back,and a simple casting process.And the quality of the money knives was not as good as in the early stage.The two stages are divided by the historical incident that Qi was attacked by unified army led by General Leyi.A special money knife appeared during the popularity of Qi Dadao was the six character knife Liu Zi Dao(六字刀),which was not minted for too long.The small-size Qi money knife appeared in the early Warring States Period,and was mainly cast in the middle and late Warring States Period.Qi Huanqian coins appeared in the late Warring States Period.Taking Qi Dadao(齐大刀)as an example,the technological process of Qi money knife casting handicraft included a complete set of process such as blank making,mold making,casting and polishing,specifically consisting of preparing raw materials,making earthen mould,drying mould(by fire or in shade),trimming mould,carving the model of knife(and a groove),inscribing characters and marks,cleaning release agent,combining the two parts of mould,baking the mould,and casting money knife,etc.There were differences among casting moulds of money knives.For example,Qi Dadao could be divided into two stages in terms of its mould’s features.In the early stage,the mould was made delicate,the difference between the patterns of the money knife on the obverse and reverse parts of the mould was small,and the obverse and the reverse matched precisely.In the late stage,the mould was made rough.The characters on the obverse were large and loose.The knife pattern on the obverse part of the mould was smaller than that on the reverse part.It caused that the patterns could not match precisely,which left the edge of the money knife rough and not polished.The moulds of Qi Dadao knife were found in a large number and in many places.In the early period,they were only found in Anhezhuang,Linzi.In the late period,more were found in many places such as Anhezhuang,Dafosi,outside the west gate of the palace,within the south wall of the capital city,the ancient city of Anping,Qianfanwang Village of Qingzhou,and the ancient city of Sanshilipu in Fushan.From the perspective of the simplification of the casting process of Qi Dadao,its large number may be due to the need for plenty of money in a short time after the restoration of Qi by King Xiangwang,or it may be due to the prosperity of Qi’s economy owing to the relatively stable environment without engaging in wars after the restoration of Qi.From another point of view,the fact that the casting sites of Qi Dadao appeared in many places indicates a possibility of local private casting due to Qi’s weaken control over the casting of money knives.In addition,no money knife moulds of Jimo Zhi Dadao(即墨之大刀),Qi Zhi Dadao(齐之大刀)and Anyang Zhi Dadao(安阳之大刀)have been found so far,and the casting venues are unknown.It is speculated that they were forged respectively in Jimo,Linzi and Anyang in Shandong.From the perspective of settlement archaeology,this paper studies the social economic network of money circulation.The circulation of Qi’s money in the three spatial dimensions of point,line and area reflects that Qi had established a stable,orderly and close social and economic network within the state’s scope during the Warring States period.In the network,Linzi was the center of the state’s regional economy,and Jimo,Ji’nan and Linyi were also key regional economic network hubs within the territory of Qi,connecting Linzi,the capital of the state,with regional settlements.They altogether formed a social and economic network that radiated from point to line within the state and even beyond its territory,effectively realizing the allocation of resources between the northern and southern regions as well as the eastern and western spans of Qi,also playing an important role in economy,trade and management.On the one hand,the distribution and circulation of large Qi money knives have obvious corresponding relations with state-controlled resources such as salt industry,fishery and forestry,basically reflecting the main transportation routes,passes,important cities and borders of Qi.The large Qi money knives kept a stable state from the beginning to the end of circulation,with little change in the shape and weight.It is speculated that they were consciously created by Qi’s upper ruling class and the result of the complexity of social governance under the state-run economic system.The unearthed large-size Qi money knives can be divided into five different levels according to the quantity,namely over 1000,500-1000,100-499,50-99,and less than 50.Near the place where money knives are unearthed,there are often ruins of the same period,some are small villages,some are city sites,and some are capital cities.Salt industry,forestry and other different resources are also found distributed nearby.On the other hand,the appearance of small-size Qi money knives should be closely related to the sharp-head knives and Yan money knives.Small Qi money knives had obvious changes and weight reduction,which conformed to the general law of money changes.The circulation regions were mainly in the northwest of Qi,Jiaodong Peninsula and Ju.From the perspective of people,small Qi money knives were originally related to the Rong,Lai and Ju peoples.The large-scale appearance of small Qi money knives in the late Warring States period indicated that their circulation may be recognized or tacitly approved by Qi’s government.The appearance and circulation of small Qi money knives should be related to the private economy.The "market",a standardized and orderly commodity exchange entity space with equivalent or reputable products as the exchange medium,had been widely formed in Qi.These "markets" had a wide distribution range,and were mostly related to urban settlements and distributed along the east-west trunk roads of Qi.They were closely related to the perfect economic network of Qi,with the capital Linzi as the center and radiating to the whole state.The overall economic layout was basically formed with "market’ as the economic point,connecting the state’s trunk economic lines,and driving the development of regional economic settlement area under the regional economic network.Embedded in the social structure and supported by auxiliary systems such as the measurement system,the "market"economy of Qi had made the official market economy,involving large money knives,very active,and also promoted the free economic exchange involving small money knives,as well as other economic exchange activities.The official economic system of Qi had been inherited by later dynasties,and its economic governance concept remains influential even today.