World’s Oldest Coin Mint Discovered in 2,800-Year-Old Chinese Foundry

Archaeologists have uncovered the world’s oldest known coin mint, along with pieces of spade-shaped metal currency, inside a bronze foundry dating to 770 B.C.E. in Guanzhuang, China. Using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, the new research, published this month in Antiquity, reveals the coin mint began operating between 640 and 550 B.C.E., after the foundry switched from producing other valuable items to creating currency.
This discovery marks Guanzhuang as the world&