"Bracteates" and "indications" in the context of the monetary tradition of the great silk road (on the example of the 1989 year Xi'an find)

Abstract

The proposed article publishes a little-known imprint of gold foil from China — the imitation of the Byzantine coin, presumably Anastasia I. The arcticle also considers other finds of this kind and terminology of coin-like products, dividing them into three groups: gold coins weighing about 4.5 gr.; lightweight copies of Byzantine coins, called imitations; impressions of Byzantine coins, called indications.

Today more than a hundred of the above-mentioned goods have been discovered in China, called "bracteates' by Chinese researchers. Initially, it was assumed that gold Byzantine coins and their derivatives were supplied by embassies directly from Byzantium. However, as materials accumulated, it became obvious that gold solidars were moved through Asia not only by diplomatic missions but mostly by merchants of the Great Silk Road.

According to the authors of this article, in the VI-VIII centuries BC, Byzantine coins, imitations and indications could be used in different ways. Probably, a significant part of them was associated with the funeral rite, but it was hardly a kind of "Charon obola." It is possible that they were used in the ordinary life of China as a means of payment, jewelry and positional goods.