Kongshoubu & the world’s oldest-known mintage Site in Zhengzhou

Kongshoubu, or hollow-head spade coins, is a kind of metal currency cast by Zhou, Jin, Zheng and Wei during the Spring and Autumn Period. It’s the branch of Spade coins (bubi), which is one of the four popular currency in Pre-Qin Dynasty. This kind of currency was first made in the last phase of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 B.C.) and became popular after the late Spring and Autumn Period. It was abolished by the First Emperor of Qin in 221 BC.

the remains of Kongshoubu    photo/ Guangming Daily

Kongshoubu is made from an imitation of an ancient farm tool named chan. This kind of ancient tool had a handle, which was designed as a hollow square cone.They were be found mainly in today's central and southern Shanxi and Henan regions, the main agricultural area at that time. It can be seen that the production of coins and people's production and life at that time has an inseparable connection.

In the summer of 2021, the archaeology team of Zhengzhou University published a paper on Antiquity, an international archaeological journal, which proved that Guanzhuang Site located in Xingyang, Zhengzhou of Henan Province was the oldest mint workshop in the world by carbon 14 detection.

At the Guanzhuang Site, the archaeologists have discovered the complete remains of a city during Western Zhou Dynasty and Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Located about 10 kilometers south of the Yellow River, the city is surrounded by inner and outer walls and trenches. A large area of handicraft workshop was found near the south gate of the inner city. Handicraft activities in the workshop involved various types such as copper-casting, pottery manufacture and bone-making. Among them, the area of the copper workshop is the largest.

Because the coinage activities in Guanzhuang originated in a large and well-established copper foundry that has been established for a long time, it can be said that the development process of Guanzhuang copper foundry represents a quiet shift in the focus of copper production in ancient China.