商代海贝性质分析

On the Nature of Currency in Shang Dynasty

传统观点认为商代海贝或者仿海贝是中国货币的最初阶段,但是,从考古发现的商代海贝来看,出土情况复杂,无法从考古材料上对商代已经出现货币的观点给予支持;相反,从大量商代海贝密集出土情况来看,我们认为海贝是殷商时期大量使用的装饰品,最初仅仅作为财富的象征,甚至是在一定程度还可以起到辨别不同人群的功能;同时不排除西周以后货贝演化为货币的可能性。

The traditional view is that the Chinese currency originated in the Xia and Shang Dynasty or imitation Bei. However, from archaeological discovery of a large number of Shang Dynasty Cowrie, it is difficult to support the idea that currency appeared in Shang Dynasty by using the complicated unearthed archaeological materials. In contrast, judging from the unearthing of the great amount of cowrie in Shang Dynasty, we think the cowrie were used as ornament, and a symbol of wealth, or provided helps to distinguish different class of people; while not excluding the possibility of the evolution of cowrie to the official currency after XiZhou Dynasty.