600-Year-Old Coin Found In Kenya

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a 600-year-old coin was found on the Kenyan island of Manda.

The coin, called “Yongle Tongbao,” is silver and copper. The hole in the center was to keep it on a belt. It is believed that the coin was from the Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Yongle, who ruled from 1403-1425AD and helped construct Beijing’s Forbidden City.

Chapurukha M. Kusimba, curator of African Anthropology at The Field Museum, is studying to make sure it is authentic and not a counterfeit.

“It is exciting,” Kusimba said. “But whether it turns out to be fake it is still extremely exciting. It speaks to the competition going on between merchants, the kind of competition that is still visible today.”

Source: John Weinstein/The Field Museum