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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ken Dorney, post: 2922705, member: 76086&quot;]As stated they are often called bead or string money.&nbsp; However its pretty clear that they were never used as such.&nbsp; The Chinese have lots of surviving texts back to the Zhou Dynasty and while other forms of money are noted these are not.&nbsp; As far as I know they have always been found associated with graves and as such are likely some sort of offering, donative, luck charms, etc.&nbsp; They often have hooks or loops on the back showing they were likely attached to something, perhaps clothing.</p><p><br /></p><p>But I will say this.&nbsp; As metals were rare and expensive early on they almost certainly had value, or wealth as it were.&nbsp; I dont doubt they were possibly exchangeable for goods or services in some fashion, but I dont think they were intended to be used day to day but if so would likely have been localized in their use.</p><p><br /></p><p>Other objects from this period include bells, &#039;bridge&#039;, cicada, fish and others.&nbsp; We will never know for sure, though.&nbsp; Its what keeps numismatics and archaeology so interesting.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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