Chinese archeologists have unearthed a seven-ton column of corroded coins dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 AD - 1279 AD) in the Suishui town of southwestern China's Sichuan Province.
The column, two meters high and one and a half meters in diameter, is sheltered inside a big stone pit which was found on June 27 by a local farmer working with a bulldozer.
The coins had been divided according to their sizes and dates and strung together with cords, and later rusted into the columnar shape after being buried underground for such a long period of time, according to the archeologists.
It is really rare to find such a large amount of ancient coins in a single pit.
The coins could have been buried in the pit by a Buddhist temple so as to avoid possible robbery by intruders or occupiers of the later Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), according to the archeologists.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2003)
