Archaeologists in China have uncovered a mysterious series of rectangular wooden pieces connected to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an extremely well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country.
Each of the 23 wooden pieces is about one inch (2.5 centimeters) wide and 4 inches (10 centimeters) long and depicts a Chinese character related to Tiangan Dizhi, or “Ten Heavenly Roots and 12 Earthly Branches,” a traditional Chinese astronomical calendar. It was founded during the Shang Dynasty, which ruled from 1600 BC to 1045 BC.
Archaeologists think that one of the receipts represents the current year, while the other 22 papers could have been used to indicate any year in the ancient calendar. A story in China News Website, an agency run by the Chinese government.
Circular holes on the edges of each lining indicate that they were once connected together.
But it’s not yet clear how calendrical wooden sleds would work, one expert told LiveScience.
Although the practice of writing characters on wood or bamboo strips was common in China before the invention of paper, this is the first time such objects have been found in an ancient tomb.
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golden age
Archaeologists from the Chongqing municipal government announced the discovery earlier this year of wooden linings and many other artifacts in a tomb in the Wulong district, about 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) southwest of Beijing. He told the Global Times – is also run by the Chinese government.
The tomb contains a written list of all grave goods, and this list also dates back to B.C. It also states that it was built in 193. The grave dates back to B.C. It is placed during the Western Han dynasty, which ruled most of China from 206 BC to AD 9; This was followed by the Eastern Han dynasty, which ruled until AD 220, and these dynasties are considered the “golden age” in which many Chinese traditions were established.
Archaeologist Wang Meng said that the tomb is the best-preserved wooden chamber tomb found in southwest China.
Project leader Huang Wei told the Global Times that the tomb also contains more than 600 cultural artifacts, including lacquered bowls, boxes, jars and plates. There were also bamboo utensils and musical pipes, spears and cooking stands, wooden figurines, pottery and bronze objects made of copper.
calendar mystery
Astronomer Ed Kruppdirector of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and “Echoes of the Ancient Skies: Astronomy of Lost Civilizations” (Dover, 2003), who was not involved in the Wulong discovery, told Live Science that although the Tiangan Dizhi calendar is mainstream—it is used in Chinese astrology, for example—the wooden scrolls found in the Wulong tomb are unusual.
“The wooden slips with calendar notes are significant as the first and only known example of such inscriptions on such an object,” he said in an email.
However, it seems that the wooden linings could not have served as a calendar; Instead, he said, they could have been used to reference any year of the 60-year calendar cycle.
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“If so, these are not ‘books’ but objects used to highlight a particular year,” he said. He noted its similarity to a practice followed at a Taoist temple in Suzhou, China, where each year in the cycle is represented by a statue that is specially marked when it becomes current.
Krupp said findings from the Wulong tomb indicate that a high-status person was buried there. “The artifacts buried next to the deceased are numerous and very beautiful,” he said. “This is a rich and expensive material.”