LHASA -- More than 5,500 coins believed to be more than 200 years old have been unearthed during renovation work in a monastery near the base of Mount Everest in Tibet.

The round coins, weighing 26.6 kg in total and bearing floral patterns, were found by workers digging a hole in Rongpo Monastery, Dingri County, on April 27.

Wang Kun, head of Dingri, told Xinhua that words on the coins suggested they were from the 18th century during the rule of the Ganden Phodrang regime.

An expert on coin studies with the People's Bank of China said documented mintage in Tibet started in 1792, when the Chinese central government's minister to Tibet oversaw the creation of the first batch of standard coins