The Early Coins of Myanmar (Burma): Messengers From the Past. First Millenium AD de Mahlo, Dietrich - 2012

White Lotus. 2012. Hard cover. Fine.. 192 p. Includes: illustrations, maps, bibliography. . In the ancient and early medieval periods, the people of Myanmar lived in a world full of coins. Coins form a major part of their archaeological heritage and represent some impressive examples of early Asian design. The author has devoted almost fifty years to recording the provenance of these coins. he has studied their symbols and combinations of symbols and offers the results of his research to the public, organized on a geographical and chronological basis. In doing so, he is not only concerned with research on the coins themselves, but also with studying them as documents of an otherwise lost history and culture. This research has led the author to evidence of strong Indian influences in ancient Burma around the beginning of the modern era; to new insights into the development and extent of the Kingdom of Sri Ksetra; to the rise and fall of Halingyi; the origins of Pagan; to the possibility of a Khmer incursion as far as Thaton; as well as to the existence in the medieval period of previously unknown small states in Upper Burma and on the Gulf of Martaban. The early coins of Myanmar/Burma open a new window onto one of the forgotten civilisations of Southeast Asia. .