Have you ever seen an ancient Chinese bronze coin? There is a rectangular hole in the middle of the coin. The engraved characters around the hole tell us when the coin was made.

In ancient times, Chinese people usually strung their coins when they traded or bought things. In the past, Chinese merchants brought fine porcelain, pretty cloths and high-quality salt to trade for deer skins and sulfur with indigenous Taiwanese. Archaeologists found many ancient Chinese bronze coins in a site called Shih San Hang. It was a surprise because the indigenous folk had no use with money then. The explanation lies in the fact that the native people used coins for decoration. They often sewed coins on their clothing or used them to make simple necklaces.

When you go to the museum at the Shih San Hang site, you can see a necklace made of ancient Chinese bronze coins. A pretty girl might have worn it hundreds of years ago!

Learning Fun!

• 1.coin: 硬幣/錢幣
  舉例: I have a coin in my pocket. 我的口袋有一枚硬幣。
• 2.archaeologist: 就是「考古學家」，也就是在考古領域很精通的人。
  舉例: Jack is an archaeologist. 傑克是考古學家。
• 3.museum: 博物館
  舉例: I like to go to museums on weekends. 我喜歡在週末的時候去博物館參觀。
• 4.necklace: 項鍊
  舉例: My mother is wearing a very pretty necklace today. 我的母親今天戴了串很漂亮的項鍊。

更多資料閱讀與查詢...

• 中央研究院歷史語言研究所數位典藏•考古資料數位典藏資料庫
• 中央研究院歷史語言研究所•考古大菩薩遊臺灣