Eastern Roman gold coins found in 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb


Two Eastern Roman gold coins were found in a 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb in Northwest China's Xian City, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology (SPIA) said on Thursday.

Eastern Roman gold coins found in 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb
The tomb's owner, Lu Chou, died in 548 and the burial artefacts excavated include intact 
coloured pottery figurines, camel figures and, most importantly, two gold coins from the 
Eastern Roman Empire and a silver coin from Persia [Credit: hsw.cn]
Chinese archaeologists believe that one of the gold coins was minted during the reign of Anastasius I who was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 491 to 518.

The other gold coin however is a more rare one and bears stylistic similarities to coins minted during the reigns of both Anastasius I and Justinian I, who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565.

Eastern Roman gold coins found in 1,500-year-old Chinese tomb
Two Eastern Roman gold coins and silver coin from Persia found in a 1,500-year-old 
Chinese tomb in Xian, Shaanxi Province [Credit: China News Service]
The Chinese tomb also included a silver coin minted during reign of  Peroz I, who was the king of the Sasanian Empire between 459 and 484.

“The discovery of Eastern Roman gold coins and the Sasanian silver coin proves the long history of international trade on the Silk Road,” said Xu Weihong, a researcher at SPIA.

According to the inscription on the memorial tablet, the tomb belonged to Lu Chou who died in 538. Lu was a nobility in the Western Wei Dynasty (535-557).

Source: GB Times [July 14, 2017]

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