Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .5
It is probably only the draft of a document, as final financial records were made on
leather. However, in this case too, this ostracon could have been a tax document
– a reminder to pay a debt to a certain person (Navbun?), or a tax accounting
memorandum kept by a special official.
Dalverzintepa, like the whole of Northern Bactria, was apparently conquered by
the Sassanids in the mid-3rd century AD, and there is nothing surprising about the
presence of the Sassanid administration, in addition to merchants arriving from Iran.
The evidence cited is still sparse, but it reflects the existence of an established
revenue collection system in ancient Central Asia, which was further developed in
the early and late medieval period.
Money
Two main centres from which metal money originated have been identified.
Firstly, the Graeco-Lydian centre, which unified the Greek cities on the Ionian coast
of Asia Minor, ruled by Lydian kings at the time, and Aegina island. The Milesian
monetary system is thought to be the earliest among four monetary systems: Milesian,
Euboean, Corinthian, Phocaean, dating from the 7th and even 8th century BC.
Recent evidence suggests that Lydian coinage did not emerge before 640–630 BC
and the oldest surviving coins were minted around 615 BC.
The first coins were minted from electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold. The
obverse of the coins was stamped with a lion’s head and a bull’s head, verifying that
the coins had the correct weight and were of good quality. This made it possible for
the first time to trade without needing to weigh the metal.
Secondly, the Chinese centre. Here, curious knife-shaped and spade-shaped coins
first appeared in the small kingdom of Shu, in north-eastern China, in the 7th or
early 6th century BC. Circular coins with a hole in the middle were also occasionally
produced at this time. Later, from the early Han era onwards, a traditional type of
Chinese coin with a square hole and with hieroglyphs on both sides emerged. All
early Chinese coins were bronze, and cast in moulds of stone and clay. Gold and silver
coins were not produced in either the early or the later stages of the Chinese coinage
system.
Ancient Persian and Ancient Indian coinage systems are cited as other examples
of independent centres of the creation of metal money, but they probably both
originated under the influence of Greek centres.
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