Section: Social Complexity
Subsection: Forms of money

Token

tokens, unlike articles, are used only for exchange, and unlike coins, are not manufactured (example: cowries)   (See here)
Contributors:

Variable Definition
Polity The Seshat Polity ID
Year(s) The years for which we have the data. [negative = BCE]
Tag [Evidenced, Disputed, Suspected, Inferred, Unknown]
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Variable Definition
token The absence or presence of token for a polity.

# Polity Year(s) Token Description   Edit
151
(Safavid Empire)
Full Year Range of Safavid Empire is assumed.
[1501, 1722]
unknown
None
152
(Egypt - Thebes-Libyan Period)
Full Year Range of Egypt - Thebes-Libyan Period is assumed.
[-1069, -747]
unknown
None
153
(Egypt - Tulunid-Ikhshidid Period)
Full Year Range of Egypt - Tulunid-Ikhshidid Period is assumed.
[868, 969]
unknown
None
154
(Torwa-Rozvi)
Full Year Range of Torwa-Rozvi is assumed.
[1494, 1850]
absent
None
155
(Second Turk Khaganate)
Full Year Range of Second Turk Khaganate is assumed.
[682, 744]
absent
None
156
(Kazan Khanate)
Full Year Range of Kazan Khanate is assumed.
[1438, 1552]
unknown
EMPTY_COMMENT
157
(Northern Maravi Kingdom)
Full Year Range of Northern Maravi Kingdom is assumed.
[1500, 1621]
uncoded
"One other foreign item commonly occurring at Mankhamba, but whose usefulness to the community is entirely unclear, is the cowrie shell. Like imported ceramics, cowrie shells are very rare at other archaeological sites in the southern Lake Malawi area. Elsewhere in Africa, cowrie shells had economic and cultural value. [...] At Mankhamba, however, all the 46 shells were whole, with no evidence of any attempted modification. Further, cowrie shells do not feature in the oral traditions of the Chewa. It is therefore not clear what economic, social or ritual role these objects played among the Chewa at Mankhamba." [Juwayeyi 2020]
158
(Gauda Kingdom)
Full Year Range of Gauda Kingdom is assumed.
[600, 625]
present
“...the third-century bce Mahasthan Brahmi inscription (Plate 2.3) mentions payment in gandakas, a term probably referring to cowries. Cowries continued to be used as currency in parts of rural Bangladesh up to the end of the nineteenth century.” [van_Schendel 2009]
159
(Plantagenet England)
Full Year Range of Plantagenet England is assumed.
[1154, 1485]
absent
None
160
(Northern Maravi Kingdom)
Full Year Range of Northern Maravi Kingdom is assumed.
[1500, 1621]
uncoded
EMPTY_COMMENT
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