Largest hoard of buried coins

The largest buried hoard of coins was uncovered in 2016 during excavations of the tomb of Liu He (刘贺; c. 92–59 BCE), a Han Dynasty aristocrat who was buried in Jiangxi, China, around 40 km (25 mi) north of the city of Nanchang. One chamber of the tomb, which covers an area of around 1 hectare (2.5 acres), contained approximately 5 million Wu Zhu bronze coins, weighing more than 10 tonnes (11 tons).

Liu He was born into a powerful aristocratic family in the age of China's first imperial dynasty, the Western Han. His grandfather was Emperor Wu of Han, who had overseen a long period of economic, political and cultural growth during his 54-year reign. He inherited his father's title, King of Changyi (昌邑), when he was a child and grew up in a position of untouchable power and privilege.

According to contemporary chroniclers, Liu He grew into an undisciplined and unprincipled young man. So much so, in fact, that when dynastic intrigues saw him installed as emperor in 74 BCE, he lasted only 27 days in the role before being ousted by officials disgusted by his behaviour.

In the years after his brief reign, he was exiled to a remote part of northern Jiangxi, where he was made the Marquess of Haihun (海昏侯). As his tomb testifies, Liu He's dramatic fall from grace did not prevent him from amassing great wealth in later life.

His tomb, located near the village of Guanxi, was discovered sometime in 2010 or 2011. It came to attention of the archaeological community on 23 March 2011, when authorities were told of a looter's pit being dug on Guodunshan Mountain (墎墩山). A preliminary site assessment was made by a team from the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, who concluded they were looking at a monumental Han Dynasty tomb complex. It was quickly associated with the historical figure of Liu He, based on contemporary records of his life, and dating evidence recovered from the tomb.

Work began in earnest on the site in April 2011, with much of the early work being dedicated to surveying and securing the site (which would become a target for robbers when news of its contents got out). The main excavation campaign – overseen by Dr Yang Jun – ran from 2013 to 2018, and involved the methodical removal and preservation of tens of thousands of artifacts, including the oldest-known portrait of Confucius (painted on the back of an ornate lacquered mirror), 120 kg (265 lb) of gold ingots and plates and a wide array of bronze bells, lamps and functional items (including distillation equipment).

The process of cataloguing and analyzing the tomb's contents will likely continue for many years, and a large modern museum and conservation facility has been constructed nearby to support work on the site.

The largest example of a non-ritual hoard (money or precious metals buried for safekeeping) is also from China. Approximately 300,000 copper wén coins, dating to the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), were uncovered during construction work in a remote village in Fuliang County, Jiangxi, on 13 October 2017. The mass of copper coins, weighing 5.6 tonnes (6.2 tons) in total, were originally tied in strings of 1,000 and buried in a pit. Locals ascribed the hoard to a miserly local landowner, remembered in the folktales of the region, but Chinese archaeologists believe it to have been more likely the assets of a local bank or civic institution.

Another colossal coin hoard was found in China in 2000, located in Hebei, but it is less well-documented. In this case the coins were made from iron, and so had corroded into enormous agglomerations of rusted metal, making a count impossible. The approximate mass of these coins was reported as 48 tonnes (53 tons).