Ancient Chinese Cowrie Shell Imitations

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Western Zhou 1122-771 Cowrie shell imitations in stone, bone, jade and bronze. Cowrie shells in Chinese called bèi, were used as money probably since around 2000 BC, from the Shang dynasty up through the Zhou dynasty.

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Size: 3872px × 2592px
Location: Studio
Photo credit: © Robert Kawka / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ancient, antique, antiquity, archaeological, archaeology, archaic, archeology, artefact, artifact, asia, asian, background, bone, bronze, cash, china, chinese, civilisation, collection, commerce, cowrie, cowries, currency, dynasty, economic, economics, economy, empire, historic, historical, history, imitation, imperial, isolated, jade, monetary, money, numismatic, orient, oriental, primitive, shell, slate, stone, trade, trading, zhou