Coins and Token from Ancient Ceylon: Ancient Ruhuna. Sri Lankan-German Archaeological Project in the Southern Province. Vol. 2

Coins are our principal source to elucidate both the pattern of trade between Sri Lanka and the western world in late antiquity and the islands monetary and economic history of this period. Of the specimens discovered in Sri Lankan soil only two sorts were of significance: Indian silver punch-marked coins and their imitations were used as an all purpose money or general currency, whereas Late Roman chicken feed copper coins and their imitations functioned as special purpose money for essentially monastic purposes.