Decline of gold coin finds
Topic: Economy of Early India: Agriculture, Trade, Guilds, Coinage · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"
Meaning
Archaeologists find far fewer gold coins from after about the 6th century CE. Historians still disagree about why. One view sees a crisis. Long-distance trade shrank after the Western Roman Empire collapsed, so less gold came in. The other view says new towns and new trade networks were growing. Inscriptions and texts still mention coins. Fewer coins are found because people kept spending them instead of hiding them away in hoards. This debate shapes how we understand the change to the early medieval economy.
Example
Gupta kings issued many splendid gold coins from c. 4th century CE, and their earliest coins were very pure. After about the 6th century CE, gold-coin finds become much rarer. That fall is the puzzle at the centre of this debate.
Don't confuse with
- Proof of economic collapse: fewer finds do not settle the matter. Fewer coins dug up does not have to mean fewer coins were used.