2,000-Year-Old Mint Discovered in Central China

ZHENGZHOU, CHINA—Xinhua reports that heavy rains in central China have revealed a mint estimated to be more than 2,000 years old. An excavation of the site recovered copper coins, copper smelting slag, pottery, animal bones, and pieces of coin molds, according to Bai Yunxiang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Yang Jun of the China Numismatic Society said inscriptions on the molds suggest they were used during the reign of Wang Mang, a Western Han Dynasty official who seized power and established the Xin Dynasty, which lasted for several decades in the first century A.D. To read about another recent discovery in China, go to “Early Signs of Empire.”