Introduction M.A. (Numismatics

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Introduction M.A. (Numismatics Archaeology)

• Mahesh Kalra
• Asst. Professor/Curator
• Dinesh Mody Museum and Institute for Numismatics
  Archaeology

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Numismatics

• Numismatics is the study or collection of
  currency including coins, tokens, paper money,
  and related objects.
• While Numismatists are often characterized as
  students or collectors of coins, the discipline
  also includes the broader study of money and
  other payment media used to resolve debts and the
  exchange of goods.
• Numismatics is derived from the French adjective
  numismatique, meaning "of coins", which was
  derived the Greek Nomisma (??µ?sµa), meaning
  current coin. It was first used as a term in
  1829 in the English language to describe the
  field of study of coins.

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Archaeology

• The word Archaeology comes from the Greek
  archaiologia meaning knowledge of the ancient
• Archaeology is the study of past human society
  primarily through the recovery and analysis of
  the material culture and environmental data that
  they have left behind
• These include artifacts, architecture, biofacts
  and cultural landscapes i.e. the archaeological
  records

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What is Money?

• Money is anything which can be used as a
  medium to exchange goods of different values on a
  day-to-day basis and serve as a store of value
  for future purposes.
• The ideal unit of money is
• Easily divisible into smaller units for smaller
  transactions
• Easy to transport from one place to another
• Long lasting for storage of value for future use.

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In the Beginning

• Today, Money comes in different forms as coins,
  banknotes, valuable materials like gold, silver,
  etc. and today as fixed deposits, credit, debit
  cards, demat accounts, etc.
• It is an important tool of smooth functioning of
  modern human society and lack of Money can lead
  to chaotic/violent transactions as in prehistoric
  or undeveloped societies.
• However, Money did not come to human beings as a
  natural product instead it came through a number
  of painful indirect experiments coupled with a
  lot of human ingenuity.
• The earliest form of Money was probably Stone
  tools/weapons, small curios like cowry shells,
  metal nails and other sundry household objects,
  collectively called as Money Objects, which
  were exchanged between groups of men/women.

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Pre-historic Barter Goods
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Human evolution timeline Courtesy Deccan
College Collections
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Pre-Historic Timeline Courtesy Dr. Kishor
Gaikwad
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Prehistoric Economy

• Pre-historic Man evolved in three stages
• Palaeolithic Era (1.5 million years ago 10,000
  B.C.) when Man was just a hunter-gatherer with no
  exchange except of basic stone tools
• Mesolithic Era (10,000 8000 B.C.) when he began
  systematic hunting using small sharp tools called
  Microliths and beginning towards a settled life.
  This period saw an exchange of tools with setting
  up of tool factories
• Neolithic Era (8000-6000 B.C.) when he discovered
  agriculture and domestication of animals saw a
  spurt in exchange of goods, storage of surplus
  goods leading to invention of pottery. Neolithic
  period sites are thus aceramic and ceramic i.e.
  without or with pottery. In this era, primitive
  housing called wattle and daub structures was
  invented.

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Ghugeria Copper Hoards c.2nd Century B.C. Image
Courtesy British Museum
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Origin of Money

• The Origins of Money are linked to two important
  factors one the beginning of cities, and trade
  between cities and inside the city.
• The second and most important factor, the
  beginning of Mans ability to count and thus
  maintain accounts. The earliest forms of writing
  is not historical or poetic or literary material
  but accounts!
  
• This is true of all ancient civilizations like
  the Sumerian, Indus (Harappan) or the Chinese
  where writing symbols were invented initially to
  maintain accounts of trade

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The Potter of Navadatoli Courtesy Deccan
College Collections, Pune

• The concept of Money flourished only after the
  concept of storage of surplus goods was firmly
  established.
• Thus, Money developed after Man learnt pottery as
  earthen pots were a vital storage tool for the
  early humans especially in the Neolithic period
  when humans learnt farming.

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• Indian civilization developed in 3 stages
• Prehistoric period as elsewhere till Neolithic
  phase (1.5 million years ago - 8000 B.C.)
• Protohistoric period (Chalcolithic or Bronze
  Age) Harappan civilization (Mature phase 3500
  B.C. 1900 B.C.) a.k.a. First Urbanization
• Vedic period (Early Vedic c. 1500 B.C. Late
  Vedic c. 900 B.C.)
• Pre-Buddhist period a.k.a. Second Urbanization
  period or Mahajanapada period 8th Century B.C. -
  6th Century B.C.

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Harappan Economy

• Indias protohistoric period i.e. Harappan era
  (c.3500 B.C. -1900 B.C.) has not thrown up any
  coin or any definite exchange medium .
• However, archaeologists have found adequate proof
  of Harappans trade between various Harappan
  sites and external civilizations in Bahrain and
  Mesopotamian sites on a very organized level. The
  first pointer is a very definite weight system
  which is divisible into definite units
• And other pointers are Harappan seals found in
  Mesopotamia and Bahrain pointing to the
  possibility of the seals being some form of trade
  mark.
• Additionally, goods from either regions are found
  at sites and several factory sites for
  specialized goods are found in many Harappan
  sites on the Saurashtra coast

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Bronze Age trade goods
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What is a Coin?

• A Coin is a piece of metal which has a distinct
  value conferred upon it by a stamp of official
  authority authorizing its use as money.
  
  Each coin has two values an intrinsic value
  i.e. the value of the metal it is made of and
• an extrinsic or face value which is conferred
  upon it by the issuing authorities.
• In the past, the intrinsic value was equal to its
  face value but in most modern economies today,
  the face value is much more than its intrinsic
  value

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• Ancient/Medieval times
• Intrinsic value Extrinsic value i.e. 1 Rupee
  coin had silver worth 1 Rupee used in its making
• Modern times (Post-WWII)
• Intrinsic value gt Extrinsic value
• i.e. Coin is a token of the value indicated on it
  and has nominal and/or devalued metals used in
  its minting

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• Numismatics follows some laws notable among these
  is Greshams Law which stated in simple language
  means "Bad money drives out good if their
  exchange rate is set by law.
• Another principle is the Law of Numismatic
  Continuity which translates into the fact that
  usually a new regime cannot begin a new coin type
  immediately on assuming powers over a region or
  empire

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Earliest Coins in the
world

• The oldest coin recorded in the ancient world was
  the Lydian dinar from Lydia (modern Anatolia/Asia
  Minor in Central Turkey) which was made from
  Electrum, a natural alloy of Gold and Silver
  which was issued in 6th century B.C.
• The Lydian currency benefitted from the kingdoms
  possession of mines of Electrum.
• The Lydians issued the worlds first pure gold
  coins in the reign of King Croesus. English
  language has a saying as rich as Croesus.
  Soon, the Athenians and other European states
  began issuing their own independent coinage.
• The Chinese took the concept of Money Objects
  to the next level and issued Knife or Spade
  Money complete with the blade and handle in the
  shape of these tools in the 6th Century B.C.
  under the Qi dynasty. However, some Indian
  scholars believe Indian coined money is the
  oldest in the world. The debate continues

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First Indian Coinage

• The Vedas give rich references to the use of Cow
  as a unit of money by using terms like Gow Pada
  Gow Puccha especially as donations during
  sacrifices by the Kings.
• However, the Cow was not an ideal unit of Money
  because
• it was not divisible,
• b) not easy to carry and
• c) most importantly it was perishable making
  precious metals the next likely choice as units
  of wealth.

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• Thus, the Rg Veda (c.1500 B.C.) uses the term
  Hiranya for both precious metals later, however,
  they were named as Suvarna (Gold) and Rajata
  (Silver) in the later Vedas. According to Dr. P.
  L. Gupta, Hiranya meant only metal and hence it
  referred to silver coins only.
• However, the stamping of metal began much later.
  The procedure probably owed its idea to the
  branding of cows by the owners of various cow
  sheds. The Vedas speak of a variety of Gold
  coins like Nishka, Suvarna, Shatamana, Pana,
  Pada, Chandra, etc. However, no specimens of
  stamped coins especially in gold dating to the
  Vedic era have been discovered so far.

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• The earliest references to coins being stamped
  comes during the Mahajanapada period when
  Sanskrit textbooks by Panini, the Arthashastra by
  Kautilya or Chanakya, Buddhist Jataka tales, Jain
  Agamas, etc. speak of coins called Karshapanas or
  Kahapanas and their subunits like Pana, Mashakas,
  Kakanis, etc.
• Paninis Asthadhyayi speaks of metallic pieces
  being stamped (ahata) by rupa (symbols) However,
  earlier texts like Upanishads and Brahmanas have
  no exact reference to the stamping of coins

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Jetavana Roundel

• The best numismatic reference to coins in early
  Buddhist literature is the story of Sudatta, a
  merchant from Shravasti who was very generous by
  nature and earned the nickname Anathpindika for
  feeding the poor.
• When Anathpindika heard of the Buddhas arrival
  at Shravasti, he offered to buy the towns best
  garden and dedicate it to the Sangh.
• However, the garden belonged to Prince Jeta, the
  son of King Prasenjita and he reluctantly agreed
  to sell it if Anathapindika covered the entire
  gardens surface with silver Kahapanas. However,
  Anathpindika actually covered the garden with
  silver Kahapanas and earned the Buddhas
  approbation! Hence this roundel tells the story
  in pictures. Note the shape of the coins is
  rectangular!

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Janapadas and their issues

• The oldest coinage in India was issued by a
  number of independent states called the
  Janapadas.
• The Janapadas (JanaPeople PadaFootprint) were
  the first form of organized political structures
  based on clans, communities, ideals like
  republican character, etc.
• Soon, the Janapadas were absorbed into larger
  units known as Mahajanapadas which are referred
  in Buddhist and Hindu literature as Solasa
  Mahajanapada.
• Mahajanapadas were eventually absorbed into the
  Mauryan empire which rose to great heights under
  Chandragupta Maurya in 320 B.C. and further under
  his grandson, Ashoka the Great (r.276-232 B.C.)
  covering the entire Indian subcontinent till
  Mysore in the south.

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Punch Marked Coinage

• Dr. P.L. Gupta contends Indian coinage predates
  Lydian and Chinese coinage and was issued in 7th
  century B.C. by the Janapadas however other
• scholars place them in 5th Century B.C.
• These first coins issued by the Janapadas,
  Mahajanapadas and the Mauryan empire, are called
  Punch marked coinage in modern numismatic
  terminology as they are manufactured by striking
  single or multiple punches on the surface of
  the coin. In these coins, the flan of the coin
  is larger than the punch.
• The term was first used by James Prinsep in 1834
  when he came across specimens of these coins.
• Thus, these coins form the oldest Indian coinage
  as they meet our definition of a coin in totality
  as they indeed are pieces of metal with a
  distinct value conferred upon them by a stamp of
  official authority authorizing its use as money.
  Featured here Shakya Janapada PMC c. 4th Century
  B.C.

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• PMCs are however classified into various types
  based on their find spots (Janapadas), typology
  of punch marks (geometric, animal or floral) and
  number of marks (single, double, four or five).
• Research on the number of punch marks shows an
  initial period when the PMCs issued by various
  Janapadas have less than four marks later in the
  imperial Magadha period from the reign of
  Bimbisara (604 B.C.) till the end of Mauryan
  Empire in 180 B.C. the PMCs had five punch marks.
  These imperial Magadha Punch marked coins are
  found all over the Indian sub-continent (as
  opposed to the local PMCs which are usually
  restricted to their areas of issue) and weigh
  around a uniform 54 grains (3.5 gms)

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• The important part of most PMCs is that they are
  usually punched on one side the reverse has
  either no or few small marks. The marks, if any,
  are believed to have been made by Money changers
  called Shroffs to check the purity of silver.
  Shroff marks were renewed if the coin entered a
  new market or reappeared after a long time. Thus,
  the circulation period of a coin is indirectly
  indicated by the number of shroff marks!

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Weight standard of PMCs

• Another important issue is the weighing system of
  ancient Indian coins was indigenously devised by
  measuring them with a seed known as Ratti or
  Gunja seed (Abrus precatorius) which was said to
  convey the weight of the coins.
• Thus, Imperial Magadha Karshapanas weighed 32
  Ratti. The Ratti seed is used even today by
  Indian jewellers to weigh precious metals.
• Thus, Punch Marked Coins were the earliest from
  of Indian coinage evolved by using indigenous
  technology without any influence from other
  civilisations.