The Classical WorldEconomy & Trade Spade and knife money in China c. 600 BCENotable Chinese states cast bronze money shaped like spades and knives. It is one of the world's earliest coinage traditions, independent of Lydia. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Shang dynasty → Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven → Spring and Autumn period → Spade and knife money in China Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesBookDavid HartillCast Chinese Coins ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeancient Chinese spade knife money ↗Editor's pick