Review of the collection of cash coins found in the ancient shipwreck at Bình Châu, Quảng Ngãi

Nguyễn Đình Chiến, Nguyễn Ái Dung, Vietnam Numismatics #1 (10-2017), p8-17

The ancient ship lies on the seabed, 3.2 meters deep at high tide, 100 meters from the shore. After constructing a retaining wall of Larssen sheet piles, the excavation team drained the seawater in the area of the ship, allowing archaeologists to work as on dry land.

The origin of the collection

The excavation of the ancient ship in Binh Chau (Quang Ngai) conducted from June 4, 2013 to June 23, 2013 using a completely new method. After building the embankment, the excavation team drained the seawater within the ship area so that archaeologists could work in a dry environment. We have introduced preliminary results of this excavation in the scientific bulletin of the National Museum of History^[1] and the Vietnam Antiques & Art magazine^[2]. The excavation results show that the ship has 13 compartments, with 12 bulkheads, a length of 20.5m, and the maximal width in the midship compartment is 5.6m (see drawing: Plan of the Bình Châu ancient ship). The cargo on the ship includes various household items such as jars, vases, pots, bowls, and dishes made of brown and celadon enamel ceramics, and blue-and-white porcelain. Notably, the collection of discovered coins consists of 1,451 pieces. This coins were concentrated in the burned compartments of the ship. The traces of ship burning are most evident in compartments 5 to 7. These coins are of a round shape with a square hole. After the process of cleansing and classification, the excavation team has identified 36 types of coins from different periods: Tang dynasty (2 types), Northern Song dynasty (30 types), Southern Song dynasty (3 types), and Yuan dynasty (1 type), with the majority being from the Northern Song dynasty.

The evaluation results for the coins from the Bình Châu ship

Photos of the coins from the Bình Châu ship

Discussion

The above coin collection serves as evidence that the ancient Chinese coinage also widely circulated through various dynasties in Vietnam. This is a relatively common occurrence when studying accidentally discovered ancient coin hoards, as reported in the annual archaeological announcements of the Institute of Archaeology.

This collection of cash coins, of which the latest ones date to the Yuan dynasty, is the scientific basis for attributing the time of the Bình Châu ship to the Yuan dynasty.

Many coins in the collection exhibit both Regular and Seal style of characters, such as Chí Đạo Nguyên Bảo, Hoàng Tống Thông Bảo, Nguyên Phong Thông Bảo, Thiên Thánh Nguyên Bảo, all of which have two types. There are even four different types of Hy Ninh Nguyên Bảo coins.

This collection of ancient coins also has special scientific value, contributing to comparison and assessment of some types of Vietnamese ancient coins that were produced at the same period, such as Thái Bình Hưng Bảo (Đinh dynasty), Minh Đạo Nguyên Bảo (Lý dynasty), Nguyên Phong Thông Bảo (Trần dynasty and Nguyễn lords period), Chính Hòa Thông Bảo (Lê dynasty), etc...

Furthermore, this coin collection contributes additional examples of Song dynasty coins to the book "The Handbook of ancient Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and French coins circulating in Vietnam from AD to 1975"^[3] published by the Department of Cultural Heritage in 2010, such as Gia Hựu Thông Bảo, Hy Ninh Nguyên Bảo, Nguyên Phú Thông Bảo.

^[1] Nguyễn Đình Chiến, Phạm Quốc Quân (2013): Khai quật tàu đắm cổ Bình Châu-Quảng Ngãi con tàu cổ thứ VI trong vùng biển Việt Nam. Thông báo khoa học - Bảo tàng Lịch sử quốc gia, No. 2, pp. 83-87.
https://baotanglichsu.vn/vi/Articles/3099/14743/khai-quat-tau-djam-co-binh-chau-con-tau-co-thu-vi-trong-vung-bien-viet-nam.html

^[2] Nguyễn Đình Chiến, Phạm Quốc Quân (2013): Khai quật tàu đắm cổ BÌnh Châu-Quảng Ngãu còn tàu cổ thứ VI trong vùng biển Việt Nam. Cổ vật tinh hoa, No. 44, September 2013, pp. 40-45.
https://covattinhhoa.vn/news/detail/862/so-44-thang-09-2013.cvth

^[3] Nguyen Quoc Hung, Hoang Van Khoan (2010): Sổ tay tiền cổ kim loại Việt Nam, Trung Quốc, Nhật Bản, Pháp lưu hành ở Việt Nam từ đầy Công nguyên đến năm 1975. Cục Di sản văn hóa, Hanoi, 2010.
https://vnmh.com.vn/en/Articles/3220/11887/the-handbook-of-ancient-vietnamese-chinese-japanese-and-french-coins.html