Archaeologists may have discovered the palace of Genghis Khan's grandson

Hulagu Khan is well known for the sack of Baghdad in 1258.

A painting of the Mongol ruler Hulagu Khan with his Nestorian Christian wife, Dokuz Khatun. (Image credit: CPA Media Pte Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)

The remains of a once resplendent palace built for Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, may have been discovered in Van Province in eastern Turkey, a team of archaeologists suggests. 

However, researchers not associated with the research urged caution, saying that more information is needed before the structure can be tied to the Khan family. 

Hulagu (also spelled Hülegü) Khan was a Mongol leader who lived from circa A.D. 1217 to 1265 and led military expeditions in the Middle East. He was well known for the sack of Baghdad in 1258 that led to the destruction of much of the city — including the House of Wisdom, also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad — and the execution of Baghdad's leader, Caliph Al-Musta'sim Billah. 

The unity of the Mongol Empire ended in 1259, after the death of Möngke Khan, another grandson of Genghis Khan, and a smaller Mongol Empire led by Hulagu Khan, which is called the "Ilkhanate" (also spelled Il-khanate) formed in the Middle East. The Ilkhanate was short-lived and collapsed in the early 14th century, with the last remnants destroyed in 1357.

Historical records mention a palace and summer capital in the region, but don’t specify exactly where. Excavation of a palace is ongoing, but it appears to be heavily looted. "The remains of the Khan's palace complex [are] now fully ruined," excavation team member Munkhtulga Rinchinkhorol, an archaeologist with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, told Live Science in an email. Despite the looting, the team has found the remains of glazed roof tiles, bricks, tri-colour-glazed ceramic potteries and porcelain. 

An important find is that some of the roof tiles have "'s'-like symbols on the roof-ending tiles,"  Rinchinkhorol said. Known as the "svastika pattern or tamga" they are "one of the power symbols of the Mongol Khans," he said. 

Various forms of svastika patterns were used in ancient and medieval times and a version of them was appropriated by the Nazis in the 20th century. The tiles with these symbols are an important reason why researchers believe that they have found a palace which belonged to Hulagu Khan, Rinchinkhorol noted. The artifacts, combined with historical records mentioning a strong Mongol presence in the area, lead researchers to believe that the palace dates to the time of the Ilkhanate.

Archaeologists react

Live Science contacted a number of experts not affiliated with the research to get their reactions to the discovery. 

"It is possible that it is Hülegü's palace," Timothy May, professor of Central Eurasian History at the University of North Georgia, told Live Science in an email, saying that more information is needed before it can be known for certain. "The scholars involved are very good and may be correct," May said.

Other scholars expressed similar views. The discovery is "exciting" but more information is needed, Michael Hope, chair of Asian Studies at Yonsei University in Korea, told Live Science in an email. There are some historical accounts that may mention this palace. The 13th-century Armenian historian, Kirakos of Ganja (lived circa A.D. 1200 to 1271), mentioned a palace that lay somewhere between Lake Van and Lake Urmiya, Hope said. Another Armenian historian named Grigory of Akancʿ (lived circa A.D. 1250 to 1335) mentioned that the Ilkhanate constructed a summer capital northeast of Lake Van at Ala Taq, which likely included a palace, Hope noted. 

What is known for certain is that this region was an important area for the Mongols, "so we should not be surprised to find ruins of Ilkhanid caravanserais and small settlements, perhaps even palaces in the region," Hope said. "Whether this is the palace of Hülegü described by Kirakos remains to be seen. I certainly wouldn't rule it out, but I am hungrily waiting for more information," Hope said. 

Research at the site is being conducted by a joint Turkish-Mongolian team. A report on the research will be prepared in the next few months, Rinchinkhorol said.

Originally published on Live Science.

Korean Cultural Heritage Investigation Team discovers 317 Relics in Laos Temple

A Korean cultural heritage investigation team discovered 237 gold relics and 317 relics, including crystals of various colors, at the Hong Nang Sida Temple in Laos.

It is evaluated as a meaningful archaeological achievement as it is rare for such a large number of gold relics to be found in the region of the Khmer Kingdom, which had been influential in Southeast Asia. Also, an unusually unearthed silver Buddhist statue from a Hindu temple is expected to draw attention from the academic world.

The Cultural Heritage Administration and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation announced on June 30 that they recovered 317 artifacts during an investigation of the dismantling of the collapsed sanctuary "cellar," which is a part of the "Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape."

Hong Nang Sida Temple in southern Laos is a Khmer ruin that means "Princess Sida's big building." The Korean government has been promoting conservation and restoration projects of this place since 2013, and in 2019, the gilt-bronze statue of the female genitalia, "Yoni," was discovered in Laos for the first time.

Cellar's internal investigation was conducted from last year to last May. The cellar is structured with a large room in the center and small rooms in the east, west, south, and north directions. When viewed from the sky, it is shaped like a cross.

A hole with a depth of at least 4.5 m was identified in the central cellar room. This "central pit" was a facility symmetrical with the spire, and important deities were also enshrined there. The team conveyed that it is the first time for a central pit to be discovered in Laos.

"There are similar central pits in Cambodia's Angkor and in the Bayon temple," Jeon Yu-geun, deputy head of the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation said. "While different scholars look at the construction period of Hong Nang Sida Temple differently, considering the structure of the central pits and the contents of the inscriptions confirmed in the past, it is judged to be built in the 12th century.”

Most of the artifacts were excavated from the central chamber. The gold relics consist of 5 gold rings, 217 gold leaf plates, and 15 gold decorations. The gold ring has a circumference of about 2.5 cm, and some decorations are made with a thickness of 0.2 mm. The thickness of the gold lead plate is 0.2 to 0.3 mm. Some of the gold decorations were engraved with floral patterns, and there are also relics believed to be accessories for necklaces and earrings.

Gold rings consist of 70-80% gold, 15-25% silver, and 3-7% copper, while old leaf plates are divided into 70-85% gold and 50-60% gold.

In addition to the forbidden artifacts, white, green, red, and yellow crystals were found.

“If you look at the gold relics, it looks like they were made with different alloy ratios depending on the nature of the substance,” said deputy manager Jeon. "The gold leaf plate seems to have been enshrined in the temple in a religious sense.”

He said, "As geologically, gold and crystals cannot be produced in the area around Hong Nang Sida Temple, there is a high chance that it was manufactured in another area and then was brought here."

The investigation team also paid attention to the silver Buddha statue recovered along with Yoni. This statue is believed to have been built in the 17th century.

"The Buddhist statue was placed in a place where people from the future generation could not place it," said deputy manager Jeon. "Laos adopted Buddhism as the state religion on the 14th century. It is thought that Hong Nang Sida Temple remained in operation until the 17th century, when the Buddha statue was made, without being collapsed."

"In order to find out when the temple collapsed, we will conduct an art history survey of the silver Buddha statue and carry out radiocarbon dating as well."

"The shiny relics of Hong Nang Sida Temple are a source of information about Laos' metal working techniques and trade patterns," said Mrs Suanesavanh Vignaket, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos. 

The Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation previously restored the "Mandapa" and the platform, a rectangular space for worship and ceremonies at the Hong Nang Sida Temple. In the second half of the year, they also plan to investigate the exterior of the cellar.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.) SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap)

3,000-year-old Sanxingdui Ruins Unveil Mysterious Bronze Figure!

Sanxindui flourished with openness, tolerance of outside world

By Chen Xi

Deemed one of China's most famous archaeological discoveries in the world, the Sanxingdui Ruins site in Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday revealed newly unearthed artifacts: a 3,000-year-old bronze figure holding a zun, a wine vessel in ancient times, on top of the head, with the height of 1.15 meters.

A total of 534 important cultural relics including ivory, bronze, gold, jade ware and nearly 2,000 pieces of broken cultural relics including another gold mask found in the eighth pit have been unearthed from six sacrificial pits of the Sanxingdui Ruins as of late May, and the bronze figure was discovered at the third pit.

Officials revealed the latest achievements of the Sanxingdui archaeological excavation at a global promotion event in the Sanxingdui Museum on Friday.

The bronze figuring holding a zun vessel on top of the head can be seen as an "unprecedented" cultural relic not only in China but also in the world. UNESCO sent congratulations for the stunning new discovery through a video.

The figure is composed of two parts, the upper part being a 55 centimeter-high bronze zun with a big mouth and welded with exquisite dragon-shaped decorations, and the lower part a 60 centimeter-tall bronze figure with a kneeling posture seemingly holding something in his hands. The bronze figure reflects the spiritual world of the ancient Shu civilization sacrifices, and is a national treasure-level cultural relic, CCTV reported on Friday.

The bronze figuring holding a zun vessel on top of the head can be seen as an "unprecedented" cultural relic not only in China but also in the world.

The archaeological team has almost finished its work to extract all the ivory relics at the third and fourth areas of the site, and are carrying out further research, including the DNA of ivory relics, Tang Fei, dean of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archeology Research Institute, told the Global Times.

"As the bronze-made relics are buried under the ivory relics, the next stage for us is to excavate the bronze ware. But it is still unknown how long that will take as it depends on the integrity of the relics," said Tang, adding that they could extract four to five relics per day if the relics are complete, while one fragile or incomplete bronze relic might take two to three days.

"The latest achievement at the Sanxingdui Ruins site is we have confirmed that the silk relics were used in sacrificial offerings in the ancient dynasty," Tang said.

Organized by the State Council Information Office, the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Sichuan Provincial People's Government, the global promotion event for the Sanxingdui Ruins also aims to introduce the great culture to the world to enhance exchanges and learning between Chinese and other civilizations.

An international project to promote Sanxingdui culture has been launched, including the animated film Gold Mask, documentaries, books and games themed on the Sanxingdui Ruins.

"Sanxingdui Ruins will become an international tourism site after the completion of the Sanxingdui Ruins Park, and we are preparing to apply it as a world cultural heritage site with the Jinsha site in Chengdu, Sichuan Province," said Luo Qiang, vice-governor of Sichuan Province.

According to Zhu Yarong, deputy curator of the Sanxingdui Museum, exhibits from Sanxingdui Ruins have been held in 21 countries, covering five continents. But during the post-COVID-19 era, the exhibits of the current discoveries will be mainly held in digital form.

As of late May, more than 1,000 important cultural relics have been unearthed at the Sanxingdui Ruins, and a newly discovered golden mask is under restoration, officials said at a global promotion event on Friday.

Compared with Troy

First discovered in 1929, the Sanxingdui Ruins site, which dates back to the Bronze Age over 3,000 years ago, has been the source of one pleasant surprise after another following decades of digging and archaeological research. It is the largest and highest-ranking centralized site ever found in the Sichuan Basin, and is believed to date back to the Xia (c.2,070 BC-c.1,600 BC) and Shang (c.1,600 BC-1,046 BC) dynasties.

In March, Chinese archaeologists unearthed more than 500 relics in six ancient sacrificial pits, stunning archaeologists and history buffs in China and the rest of the world. The cultural relics included a mysterious bronze mask, a more than 2-meter-tall bronze statue, and a mask made of gold, giving modern people a peak into the ancient cultures that existed in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Huo Wei, dean of the School of Archaeology, Culture and Museum at Sichuan University and curator of the Sichuan University Museum, told the Global Times on Friday that the archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui Ruins will become one of the most famous archaeological discoveries in the world.

"The academic value of the Sanxingdui Ruins site to the history of Chinese bronze culture can be compared with the value of the Troy and Nineveh site, which has great significance to the origins of early European civilization," said Huo.

According to Huo, the Sanxingdui civilization has a unique contribution to the origin and formation of Chinese civilization. For example, the 112 bronze wares that were excavated from the two sacrificial pits in 1986 showed that people living in the ancient kingdom of Shu not only made some similar artifacts that imitated the bronzes of the Central Plains area of China, but also had another hierarchy and worshiping system which can be seen in their relics including a gold mask, bronze standing figure and bronze tree that are totally different with those from the Central Plains area of China.

The bronze figuring holding a zun vessel on top of the head can be seen as an "unprecedented" cultural relic not only in China but also in the world.

"The discovery of the Sanxingdui Ruins site has greatly enriched the cultural connotation of the origin and formation of Chinese civilization. For the first time, people realize that besides the ritual system represented by the rigorous and standardized bronze wares in the Central Plains area of China, there were also some alternative ways, similar to the Bronze Age of Eurasia, in expressing people's worship and beliefs," said Huo.

He said the Sanxingdui civilization was likely based on the traditional Central Plains civilization and the prominent Bashu culture, and it also extensively absorbed certain factors from other ancient civilizations around it. It had the characteristics of the integration of Eastern and Western civilizations.

From a geographical perspective, the Sanxingdui civilization was located in the so-called "Huaxia Fringe" zone. It had a fixed transportation route with the ancient Silk Road to the northwest, and the road in its south led directly to South Asia, Southeast Asia, and all parts of the coast of China. It even had contact and connections with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as early as the prehistoric Neolithic period.

"The openness and tolerance of the ancient kingdom of Shu with the outside world provided the Sanxingdui civilization with a lavish cultural environment," Huo said.

New findings at China's Sanxingdui Ruins stun archaeologists (Photo Gallery)

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

Archaeologists have recently made some stunning discoveries at the famed Sanxingdui Ruins site in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

A treasure trove of exquisite bronze, gold and jade wares, including at least 10 bronzewares unearthed for the first time in the history of human civilization, have been excavated at the site.

A joint team of archaeologists from Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, Peking University, Sichuan University and other research institutions and universities has carried out the excavation of six sacrificial pits at this site since 2020.

The new finds are mainly excavated from the No.7 and No.8 sacrificial pits, bringing the total number of items discovered in the six pits at Sanxingdui to nearly 13,000, according to the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.

A bronze box with a green jade ware inside, which was discovered in the No.7 pit, is a highlight among the newly found artifacts. The top and bottom of the vessel are covered with tortoise-shaped reticulate lids, and the sides of the box are adorned with a bronze hinge, handles shaped as dragon heads and a few bronze streamers. Microtrace analysis revealed that the box was wrapped in silk, according to the archaeologists.

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that the vessel is one of its kind, given its distinctive shape, fine craftsmanship and ingenious design. Although we do not know what this vessel was used for, we can assume that ancient people treasured it," said Li Haichao, a professor at Sichuan University who is in charge of the excavation at No.7 pit.

Jade wares and bronze decorations, figurines and bells were also found in the pit.

In the adjacent No.8 pit, archaeologists unearthed a variety of artifacts including bronze heads with gold masks, a bronze sculpture with a human head and snake body, a bronze altar, a giant mythical creature made of bronze and a dragon-shaped bronze item with a pig nose.

"The sculptures are very complex and imaginative, reflecting the fairy world imagined by people at that time, and they demonstrate the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization," said Zhao Hao, an associate professor at Peking University who is head of the excavation of the No.8 pit.

Around the pits, archaeologists also found ash ditches, architectural foundations and small sacrificial pits, and cultural relics, as well as bamboo, reeds, soybeans, and cattle and boars that may have been sacrificed.

Originally discovered in the late 1920s, the Sanxingdui Ruins have been dubbed as one of the world's greatest archaeological findings of the 20th century.

Located in the city of Guanghan, around 60 km from the provincial capital Chengdu, the ruins covering an area of 12 square km are believed to be the remnants of the Shu Kingdom, dating back some 4,500 to 3,000 years.

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China’s mysterious 8,000-year-old structure ‘guarded by the military could hold key secrets

More than 100km outside the ancient city of Xi’an, among the overgrown forests, rise scores of pyramid-shaped mounds that have been shrouded in mystery for thousands of years. The West learnt about them when Fred Meyer Schroder, an American trader, first reported the enigma in 1912.

China has a mysterious structure that could be key to understanding the country’s history.

At the time, he was travelling through the Shaanxi Province with a guide, where he recorded a thorough description in his diary, noting he had seen one giant pyramid approximately 1,000 feet tall and nearly twice that size in length, surrounded by a number of smaller pyramids.

Fast-forward three decades and US Airforce pilot James Gaussman would be left mesmerised by a “pure white” structure spotted while flying over Asia, said to be twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

He said: “The remarkable thing was the capstone, a huge piece of jewel-like material that could have been crystal.

“There was no way we could have landed, although we wanted to. We were struck by the immensity of the thing.”

Two years later, Colonel Maurice Sheahan, the Far Eastern director for Trans World Airline, reported the same experience.

In the early Nineties, German investigator Hartwig Hausdorf searched for the massive pyramid, but he was unsuccessful in finding it.

Instead, he found “the Chinese military meticulously patrolling the area,” according to reports.

Today, Google Earth will show anyone with the right coordinates evidence of not just one, but around 40 known pyramids, but not all are easily distinguishable to the human eye.

They are covered with trees and grass, and many date back 8,000 years. This region, in essence, is China’s version of both Egypt’s Giza and the Valley of the Kings in one, particularly because there is a huge amount of royalty rumoured to be beneath the surface that no one has disturbed.

Two farmers discovered the famous terracotta army of China’s First Emperor

As early as the 17th century, a Roman Jesuit wrote about the pyramids, and in 1785, the French orientalist and sinologist Joseph de Guignes wrote ‘An Essay in Which We Prove The Chinese Are an Egyptian Colony’.

Western archaeologists have, to this day, rarely been permitted to investigate the sites and some have claimed photos show shrubs have been deliberately planted to keep the secret under wraps.

But experts theorise there are almost certainly lost emperors and artefacts below the mounds that would dwarf Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun. In 1974, the world got a peek at a truly extraordinary history of China when two farmers were digging just outside Xi’an and discovered the famous terracotta army of China’s First Emperor – Qin Shi Huang.

There were legends that he had been buried inside a veritable mini-city with palaces, carriages, treasures, and anything else he’d need in the afterlife – and through luck, or fate, these farmers hit the jackpot. The site is so massive, that researchers are “going to be digging there for centuries,” archaeologist Kristin Romey told Live Science in 2012.

The mounds are shrouded in secrecy

Some can be seen on Google Earth

But the Emperor himself has never been found.

The authorities have opened up sites like the Han Yang Ling Mausoleum to tourists, but no one is allowed to excavate them.

Xi Jinping’s government say the technology does not exist yet to disturb the pyramids without damaging their contents, citing King Tut’s discovery for reference.

Dr Romey previously remarked: “It’s really smart what they’re doing.

“Think about all the information we lost just based on the excavation techniques of the 1930s.

“There’s so much additional [information] that we could have learned, but the techniques back then weren’t what we have now.

“Even though we may think we have great archaeological excavation techniques [at present], who knows, a century down the road if we open this tomb [they could be even better].”

Chinese strong “veneration of tradition” culture could mean they simply wish to leave their royalty at peace, which means there will be no choice but to watch them recede back into the Earth with their secrets – until someone decides otherwise.

But, due to the area being shrouded in secrecy, there are also doubts from some experts about whether the White Pyramid even exists.

Experts have squabbled over both the location and the feasibility of such a monumental structure.

2021’s Coolest Archaeology and Palaeontology Discoveries in China

Kevin McSpadden

Scientists might have found a new ancestor to humans (left), and the Sanxingdui archaeology site has produced unbelievable artefacts (right). Photo: Handout

The past 12 months have been a banner year in Chinese archaeology and palaeontology.

From finding a potential ancient human relative to an “alien civilisation”, some of the most exciting scientific breakthroughs in 2021 involved China.

They helped us learn more about our world long before humans roamed the Earth and told us fascinating stories about where we came from.

Here are eight of the most interesting Chinese archaeology and palaeontology finds for 2021.

The wonderful ruins of Sanxingdui

One of the most remarkable archaeological sites worldwide is the Sanxingdui ruins in central China’s Sichuan province.

Before this year, the site had already revealed incredible artefacts from what experts believe was the Shu civilisation. These bronze-age people had been a myth before the discovery of Sanxingdui.

The gold masks found in Sanxingdui are believed to be about 3,000 years old. Photo: Xinhua

This year, the world was awed when archaeologists revealed a stunning golden mask that had many people buzzing that it once belonged to aliens, which scientists were quick to dismiss.

Six months later, a better-preserved mask of similar style was revealed to the public, along with a treasure trove of other artefacts.

Finding the ‘Dragon Man’

Technically, the skull that would be nicknamed “Dragon Man” was discovered in 1933, but the person who found it did not think it was overly special, and the skull was reburied for 85 years.

This year, using the same skull, archaeologists announced what they believe is a new species of an archaic human called Homo longi.

Scientists think the species’ brain would have been the same size as Homo sapiens, but the skull has larger eye sockets, a thick mouth and overgrown teeth.

This skull belongs to what may be an newly discovered species of prehistoric human. Photo: AFP

The announcement is not without debate, as many scientists think it might be a Denisova hominins, a previously identified extinct species of human.

Regardless, the skull does provide a lot of evidence that the development of modern humans was not a simple linear evolutionary path but likely involved significant crossbreeding between the species.

Descendants of a primitive Asian population

New research suggests the 4,000-year-old naturally embalmed mummies found in Xinjiang in northwest China were direct descendants of Ancient North Eurasians, an ancient people that had a large footprint in the region.

The paper dispelled theories that they had migrated from Afghanistan, Siberia and central Asian mountains. The mummies were excavated between 1979 and 2017.

These people probably died naturally and were preserved by the arid climate in Xinjiang, allowing scientists to use DNA analysis to pinpoint their ancestors.

Will we find dinosaur DNA soon?

A team of scientists found well-preserved cartilage cells that included an image of a nucleus in a birdlike dinosaur called Caudipteryx.

The nucleus contained “fossilised threads of chromatin”, raising the tantalising possibility that palaeontologists could one day find the remains of dinosaur DNA.

A 3D rendering of the Caudipteryx. Photo: Shutterstock

Before this study, palaeontologists had believed that it would be improbable to find fossilised dinosaur DNA because it is too fragile to survive for hundreds of millions of years.

Finding the possible source of the world’s first coins

Archaeologists in central China found a mint that they believe may be the spot where people produced humanity’s first coins.

While the mint itself is long gone, the team found a pit filled with the industrial waste produced by coin production.

If correct, the discovery would mean people began producing coins about a century before initially thought. Currently, the world’s oldest mint was found in the Kingdom of Lydia in what is now western Turkey.

This overhead shot might be the first place humans minted coins. Photo: Zhengzhou University

The mint in Lydia is thought to have run sometime between 619BC and 560BC, while the one discovered in central China’s Henan province is estimated to have begun operating between 640BC and 550BC.

Do the Turkish and Japanese languages share a common ancestor?

New research published this year points to the possibility that the founding language of what would eventually split into a distinct group of five diverse tongues originally came from what is now northwest China.

The scientists said genetic, archaeological and linguistic analysis points to the fact that the five Transeurasian languages – Mongolian, Turkish, Tungusic, Japanese and Korean – originated in millet farmers in the Liao valley.

However, the relationship between Transeurasian languages is a source of intense debate, and many scientists hesitate to include Japanese and Korean in the language family.

A bird, oh wait, dinosaur, in an egg

It is widely accepted that modern birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, but the recent discovery of a fossilised embryo solidified the theory.

‘Baby Yingliang’ is the first discovery of a non-avian dinosaur that shares the developmental pattern of birds, notably with its head positioned below its body in the egg and its feet resting on both sides.

A dinosaur was discovered ‘tucking’ (pictured), strengthening the theory that they evolved from birds. Photo: Julius Csotonyi

The team wrote that this characteristic, called tucking, suggests a strong connection between birds and theropods, the group of dinosaurs that includes the Tyrannosaurus rex.

The fossil is between 66 and 72 million years old and was found in southeastern China.

Rediscovering an emperor

For nearly 1,000 years, Chinese people had believed Emperor Wen, the fifth ruler of the Han dynasty, was buried somewhere in a mountain named the Phoenix’s Mouth outside Xian. It turned out that the actual tomb lay a few kilometres away.

Called Emperor Wen’s Ba Mausoleum, the pyramid-shaped resting place had long been covered by the shifting environment over the centuries, making it hard to pinpoint as a unique archaeological site.

The site started to receive attention when artefacts discovered in the area were of exceptionally high quality for the time.

Emperor Wen is well-received in Chinese history and is considered a leader who oversaw a period of stability and economic growth.

A Great Discovery: Researchers Find a Preserved Dinosaur Embryo in a 72 million-year-old Fossilized Egg

Scientists discovered an incredibly rare baby dinosaur egg that is estimated to be a 70-million-year-old fossil.

They named it the Baby Yingliang after the name of the Chinese museum where it’s currently housed. The fossil egg preserves the embryonic skeleton of an oviraptorid dinosaur. Researchers published their findings on Tuesday and said the baby dinosaur’s posture is similar to that of a late-stage modern bird embryo.

The baby dinosaur is estimated to be about 70 million years old and a type of oviraptorosaur, a group of beaked therapod dinosaurs closely related to modern birds that lived about 130 million to 66 million years ago, according to National Geographic.

The egg was exceptionally preserved at around 7 inches long, and the baby dinosaur inside was estimated to be about 11 inches long from head to tail. Researchers believe that if it had lived, it would have grown to be about 2 to 3 meters long.

The baby fossil egg was found in China’s Jiangxi province and acquired in 2000 by Liang Liu, director of Yingliang Group, a Chinese stone company. The egg wound up in storage and wasn’t analyzed until about 10 years later during the construction of the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum.

Skeletons of dinosaurs are rarely preserved in the embryonic stage, while the animal is unhatched from its egg. Through the discovery of Baby Yingliang, researchers from China, the U.K. and Canada were able to study the positions of the dinosaur with other previously found oviraptorid embryos. According to CNN, they concluded that they were moving and changing poses before hatching in a way similar to baby birds. 

Baby birds typically move in a way called tucking, which is controlled by the central nervous system and critical for a successful hatching. Beyond the pre-hatching behavior, Zelenitsky told CNN that dinosaurs were also known to sit on top of their eggs to incubate them, similar to the way birds do.

All birds evolved directly from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, which include the Tyrannosaurus rex and smaller velociraptors. 

The Oldest Noodles in the World (4,000-Years-Old) Found in China

A 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles unearthed in China is the earliest example ever found of one of the world's most popular foods, scientists reported today. It also suggests an Asian—not Italian—origin for the staple dish.

　　Since 1999, when Lajia villagers are busy with autumn harvest every autumn, it is also the time for archaeologists to actively carry out their work. For six years, Ye Maolin, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has been working hard at the Lajia site. God rewards hard work. God will also prefer people who work hard. Important research results from the Lajia site follow one after another, many of which are results. Going internationally, it has attracted worldwide attention.

　　On November 22, 2002, archaeologists carried out excavations on the eastern platform of the Lajia site. This platform was very special. The hard soil surface was found in its Qijia cultural strata, which means that there used to be a lot of people collectively. Trample is a square. In the northern part of this platform, traces of settlement sacrificial sites were once found. The work on the 22nd was just north of the platform. Cai Linhai of the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology unearthed an orange-red pottery bowl.

This kind of pottery bowl can be seen everywhere in the Lajia ruins. It is very common and extraordinary. When the soil in the bowl is poured, it is found to be white noodles. The relics have been weathered, leaving only a thin skin, but the noodle-like shape remains the same, with a length of tens of centimeters. The experienced researcher Ye Maolin quickly put the noodle-like relics back into the bowl, covered the soil intact, did some simple treatments, and brought them back to Beijing. After Ye Maolin asked researcher Lu Houyuan from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to do the ancient work. In botanical identification, researcher Lu Houyuan used a technique called plant silicate to identify this noodle-like relic. It is indeed food noodles, but it is not noodles made with the wheat flour we use today, but with millet and a small amount. It is made of millet, figuratively speaking, it is a bowl of miscellaneous noodles. The so-called plant silicate technology means that the roots of plants absorb silicon during the growth process. They accumulate in the tissue cells of the plant in the form of hydrated silicon and aggregate into various forms of opal minerals. This is plant silicate. It is generally deposited in situ and can be stored for a long time. Different plant types have different plant silicates. Therefore, plant silicates can be used to distinguish plant families, genera and even species.

　　Experts estimate that this bowl of noodles may be used for sacrifices. It was placed at the ceremonial place in the square. When an earthquake occurred, the pottery bowl was inverted in the soil, sealing the pottery bowl and isolating the air, so the noodles were well preserved. . What a blessing! The nightmare earthquake destroyed everything, but saved us a bowl of precious noodles. This is a bowl of noodles 4000 years ago! It is the oldest noodle found in the world so far. In October 2005, the world's authoritative scientific magazine, the British "Nature", published the research results of Ye Maolin and Lu Houyuan. This is an affirmation of their years of hard work and a demonstration of the value of the Lajia site.

Qinghai Lajia National Archaeological Site

　　Talking about his work, Ye Maolin was very humble. He said this: "Over the years, there have been some new discoveries and new developments in the excavations of the Lajia site almost every year. Of course, this is mainly because the Lajia site is important. The special burial phenomenon and the special preservation environment of China contain rich connotations and precious remains. As long as the ground is broken, special new discoveries may appear. Our work only conforms to the actual situation."

A Ceramic Jar With Thousands of Bronze Coins Unearthed at a Samurai’s Residence

A Ceramic Jar of Bronze Coins from a 15th-Century Samurai Residence Near Tokyo

(Courtesy Saitama Cultural Deposits Research Corporation)

In 2018, in a quaint town just north of Tokyo, an extraordinary discovery brought the echoes of the past into the present. Archaeologists unearthed a ceramic jar brimming with thousands of bronze coins, carefully hidden centuries ago at the site of a fifteenth-century samurai residence. This find sheds new light on Japan's medieval period, offering valuable clues about the lives, practices, and values of the warrior class in feudal Japan.

The Samurai and Their Times

The 15th century was a turbulent era in Japan, marked by the constant clash of feudal lords, known as daimyos, who commanded legions of samurai warriors. This period, known as the Sengoku or "Warring States" period, was characterized by fierce battles for power, territory, and prestige. The samurai were not just warriors; they were landowners and noblemen who led disciplined lives adhering to a code known as bushido, or "the way of the warrior." This code emphasized loyalty, honor, and martial prowess.

The residence where the coins were discovered likely belonged to a samurai of some status, possibly one who had served a local lord or daimyo. The bronze coins, stashed and preserved in a humble ceramic jar, could have been accumulated over many years, perhaps as an emergency fund or a store of wealth, concealed for security.

Left to right: ceramic jar, jar with coins, and wooden tablet. (Courtesy Saitama Cultural Deposits Research Corporation)

Bronze Coins: Insights into Samurai Wealth

The bronze coins found in the ceramic jar were minted in various regions and during different periods, suggesting that they were gradually amassed over the years. In Japan, coins during the 15th century were often imported from China, as domestic coinage was limited. Thus, the contents of the jar hint at a flourishing trade network with the Asian mainland and the samurai’s access to such goods.

The sheer number of coins—thousands packed into a single vessel—indicates the samurai class’s reliance on coinage for trade, payments, and as a medium of exchange in a society that was still largely agrarian. Though they were warriors, samurai had land holdings that often required them to engage in trade or agriculture, and currency was crucial in maintaining their estates and securing the loyalty of retainers and workers.

Why Was the Jar Buried?

The purpose behind the burial of this jar remains a tantalizing mystery. Was it a personal store of wealth, hidden during a period of unrest or impending battle? Or could it have been an offering to ensure spiritual protection for the samurai’s home and family? Buried caches of coins are not uncommon in archaeological finds, but the reason for burying large amounts of currency varies widely.

In times of war and instability, it was common for individuals to hide their valuables. Feudal Japan saw continuous skirmishes and uprisings, so it’s plausible that the samurai family residing here may have hidden their wealth in the earth for safekeeping. Another theory suggests that this could have been a ritual burial, meant to offer wealth to the spirits or deities for protection or prosperity.

The Significance of the Find

Discoveries like this jar of bronze coins are significant because they offer a rare glimpse into everyday life during Japan’s samurai-dominated feudal period. Such finds bring to light the personal lives of historical figures who are often only seen in the shadow of legends and folklore. It humanizes the samurai, showing that while they were warriors, they were also stewards of wealth, mindful of family legacies, and engaged in the complexities of trade and economy.

The excavation has inspired further study into the material culture of Japan’s samurai class. Archaeologists and historians continue to analyze the coins and other artifacts found at the site, eager to piece together the economic landscape of feudal Japan. As more such finds emerge, they collectively help build a clearer picture of how currency, commerce, and cultural exchanges shaped the lives of samurai and their society.

The discovery of the ceramic jar filled with bronze coins north of Tokyo bridges the present with Japan’s feudal past. This glimpse into the samurai's world brings history to life, showing us not only the grandeur of Japan's warrior class but also their day-to-day dealings, economic sensibilities, and the mysteries that surrounded their lives.

Sculpture Eye-crafting Techniques: The Piercing Gazes that brought life to sculptures

Ιnlaid eyes are found in sculpture in many periods, from ancient times till Middle Ages. The history behind these wonderful innovations is great and dates back centuries.

Historically, several cultures have come up with some very ingenious solutions for how to bring more life to the eyes of their sculptures. Ancient Greeks would assemble eyes from copper, glass and/or shell, and anchor them from the inside of a hollow bronze head. Ancient Greek bronzesmiths had a variety of techniques at their disposal to enhance the appearance of their creations. Due to their often fragmentary state of preservation, the modern observer tends to think of early Greek bronzes as monochromatic, but it is clear that the practice of inlaying other materials into bronze started early in ancient Greece.

Inlays appear in a broad variety of bronze object types from weapons and armor to vessels and jewelry to relief-decorated objects and figural sculpture. Many of the finest early Greek bronzes were embellished with inlays that enlivened the sculptural forms and may have added symbolic or even magical qualities. Eyes were often given particular prominence with inlays. Of special interest is a new technical analysis of a Late Geometric statuette of a man and a centaur (Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 17.190.2072) in which the eyes of the man were inlaid with silver to contrast with the eyes of the centaur, which appear to have an iron-rich inlay. Although the evidence is frequently incomplete, it is clear that a wide variety of colorful inlays such as gold, silver, iron, bone, ivory, and amber were utilized, and other materials, such as stone and shell, were certainly used as well.

Another great sculpture with eyes tha magnetize everyone who looks at them is Iniochos (Charioteer of Delphi). It has its own room in the museum of Delphi, and a quick glance is not enough to see it. You have to look at it closely from all sides and admire the multitude of details on its body and its bronze tunic. The eyes of Iniochos look alive, and perhaps no other statue gives this unique feeling. White enamel was used for the eyeballs to make them look exactly like a natural human eye. For the iris, brown semi-precious stone was used, while the pupils of the eyes are black. The eyelashes were made of small copper wires, while its lips were made of thin reddish copper plates.

Detail of the Iniochos statue's head, showing the inlaid eyes.

The Egyptians combined materials of alabaster, rock crystal & copper, and inserted them from the outside of the face to bring vitality to their sculptures and busts. There are early examples of Egyptian statues in which the inlaid eyes are either blue or grey in colour. Some epictions of deities such as Horus showed them with eyes that had a blue pupil. A range of materials are known to have been used depending on the desired effect and perhaps the situation, location and purpose for which the eye, and its artifact, were created to represent. Those eyes, for example, include the use of materials such as limestone, quartz, rock crystal, obsidian, bone and ivory, copper alloys, resin, plaster, animal glue and pigments. What is surprising is the recognition of what exquisite craft skill and technology are implied by the use of such crystal for the eyes of these statues.

Ancient Egyptian inlaid eye: (top) view of the eye from below; (bottom) x-radiograph of the eye from the same position, showing some of the technical features.

The sculpture of the Seated Scribe or Squatting Scribe is one of these famous works of ancient Egyptian art. It represents a figure of a seated scribe at work. The sculpture was discovered at Saqqara and dated to the period of the Old Kingdom, from either the 5th Dynasty, c. 2450–2325 BCE or the 4th Dynasty, 2620–2500 BCE. It is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is a painted limestone statue, the eyes inlaid with rock crystal, magnesite (magnesium carbonate), copper-arsenic alloy, and nipples made of wood.

Detail of inlaid eye belonging to the "Seated Scribe”.

The Chinese would position small obsidian beads in the center of the eyes, (a technique which was sometimes also seen in Japan during the Asuka and Nara periods (combined 538-974). In the late Heian period (974-1185), however, a new process for infusing a startlingly realistic quality into the eyes of sculpture elevated Japanese Buddhist statuary to new heights.

In the early periods of Japanese art history, eyes were simply carved into the wood (and then painted). This way of depicting a sculpted eye is called chougan (彫眼), and examples of this can be seen in many temples throughout Japan. However, when visiting a temple with carvings that have crystal eyes, it is impossible to ignore the intimacy of the statuary’s pensive gaze or piercing glare. This style of eye-crafting is called gyokugan (玉眼).

Left: Twenty-Eight Attendants (Basu Sennin) Sanjusangendo. Right: photo by David Bilbrey, Sculptor and Art History hound.

In 1151, an Amida Triad in the Chougakuji was the first in Japan to employ gyokugan. The technology behind this craft can simply and casually be described as an eyeball sandwich. The būshi of the Chougakuji’s Amida group carved rock crystal into a lens, painted the inside with a pupil & iris, backed it with paper, and then inserted it into an uchiguri (hollowed-out) head. The result was revolutionary. Made more famous by the Kei school about 30 years later, this technique became the sculpting standard which further set Japanese butsuzo apart from what was happening with the rest of the world.

What do we call 'Artificial cranial deformation' in archaeology and why did ancient civilizations practised it?

Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying force. Flat shapes, elongated ones (produced by binding between two pieces of wood), rounded ones (binding in cloth), and conical ones are among those chosen or valued in various cultures. Typically, the shape alteration is carried out on an infant, as the skull is most pliable at this time. In a typical case, headbinding begins approximately a month after birth and continues for about six months.

Elongated skull of a young woman, probably an Alan

Intentional cranial deformation predates written history; it was practiced commonly in a number of cultures that are widely separated geographically and chronologically, and still occurs today in a few areas, including Vanuatu.

The earliest suggested examples were once thought to include Neanderthals and the Proto-Neolithic Homo sapiens component (ninth millennium BC) from Shanidar Cave in Iraq, The view that the Neanderthal skull was artificially deformed, thus representing the oldest example of such practices by tens of thousands of years, has since been argued incorrect by Chech, Grove, Thorne, and Trinkaus, based on new cranial reconstructions in 1999, where the team concluded "we no longer consider that artificial cranial deformation can be inferred for the specimen". It thought elongated skulls found among Neolithic peoples in Southwest Asia were the result of artificial cranial deformation.

The earliest written record of cranial deformation—by Hippocrates, of the Macrocephali or Long-heads, who were named for their practice of cranial modification—dates to 400 BC.

Portrait of Alchon Hun king Khingila, from his coinage, circa 450 AD.

In the Old World, Huns also are known to have practised similar cranial deformation, as were the people known as the Alans. In Late Antiquity (AD 300–600), the East Germanic tribes who were ruled by the Huns, the Gepids, Ostrogoths, Heruli, Rugii, and Burgundians adopted this custom. Among the Lombards, the Burgundians and the Thuringians, this custom seems to have comprised women only. In western Germanic tribes, artificial skull deformations rarely have been found.

The practice of cranial deformation was brought to Bactria and Sogdiana by the Yuezhi, a tribe that created the Kushan Empire. Men with such skulls are depicted in various surviving sculptures and friezes of that time, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan.

The Alchon Huns are generally recognized by their elongated skull, a result of artificial skull deformation, which may have represented their "corporate identity". The elongated skulls appears clearly in most of the portaits of rulers in the coinage of the Alkhon Huns, and most visibly on the coinage of Khingila. These elongated skulls, which they obviously displayed with pride, distinguished them from other peoples, such as their predecessors the Kidarites. On their coins, the spectacular skulls came to replace the Sasanian-type crowns which had been current in the coinage of the region.

This practice is also known among other peoples of the steppes, particularly the Huns, as far as Europe.

The Iranian hero Rostam, mythical king of Zabulistan, in his 7th century AD mural at Panjikent. He is represented with an elongated skull, in the fashion of the Alchon Huns.

In the Americas, the Maya, Inca, and certain tribes of North American natives performed the custom. In North America the practice was known, especially among the Chinookan tribes of the Northwest and the Choctaw of the Southeast. The Native American group known as the Flathead Indians, in fact, did not practise head flattening, but were named as such in contrast to other Salishan people who used skull modification to make the head appear rounder. Other tribes, including both Southeastern tribes like the Choctaw and Northwestern tribes like the Chehalis and Nooksack Indians, practiced head flattening by strapping the infant's head to a cradleboard.

The practice of cranial deformation was also practiced by the Lucayan people of the Bahamas and the Taínos of the Caribbean. It was also known among the Aboriginal Australians.

Deformed skulls, Afrasiab, Samarkand, Sogdia, 600-800 AD.

Paracas skulls.

In Africa, the Mangbetu stood out to European explorers because of their elongated heads. Traditionally, babies' heads were wrapped tightly with cloth in order to give them this distinctive appearance. The practice began dying out in the 1950s.

Friedrich Ratzel reported in 1896 that deformation of the skull, both by flattening it behind and elongating it toward the vertex, was found in isolated instances in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and the Paumotu group, and that it occurred most frequently on Mallicollo in the New Hebrides (today Malakula, Vanuatu), where the skull was squeezed extraordinarily flat.

The custom of binding babies' heads in Europe in the twentieth century, though dying out at the time, was still extant in France, and also found in pockets in western Russia, the Caucasus, and in Scandinavia. The reasons for the shaping of the head varied over time and for different reasons, from aesthetic to pseudoscientific ideas about the brain's ability to hold certain types of thought depending on its shape. In the region of Toulouse (France), these cranial deformations persisted sporadically up until the early twentieth century; however, rather than being intentionally produced as with some earlier European cultures, Toulousian Deformation seemed to have been the unwanted result of an ancient medical practice among the French peasantry known as bandeau, in which a baby's head was tightly wrapped and padded in order to protect it from impact and accident shortly after birth. In fact, many of the early modern observers of the deformation were recorded as pitying these peasant children, whom they believed to have been lowered in intelligence due to the persistence of old European customs.

Deliberate deformity of the skull, "Toulouse deformity", France. The band visible in photograph is used to induce shape change.

Motivations and theories

One modern theory is cranial deformation was likely performed to signify group affiliation, or to demonstrate social status. Such motivations may have played a key role in Maya society, aimed at creating a skull shape that is aesthetically more pleasing or associated with desirable cultural attributes. For example, in the Na'ahai-speaking area of Tomman Island and the south south-western Malakulan (Australasia), a person with an elongated head is thought to be more intelligent, of higher status, and closer to the world of the spirits.

Historically, there have been a number of various theories regarding the motivations for these practices.

It has also been considered possible that the practice of cranial deformation originates from an attempt to emulate those groups of the population in which elongated head shape was a natural condition. The skulls of some Ancient Egyptians are among those identified as often being elongated naturally and macrocephaly may be a familial characteristic. For example, Rivero and Tschudi describe a mummy containing a fetus with an elongated skull, describing it thus:

the same formation [i.e. absence of the signs of artificial pressure] of the head presents itself in children yet unborn; and of this truth we have had convincing proof in the sight of a foetus, enclosed in the womb of a mummy of a pregnant woman, which we found in a cave of Huichay, two leagues from Tarma, and which is, at this moment, in our collection. Professor D'Outrepont, of great Celebrity in the department of obstetrics, has assured us that the foetus is one of seven months' age. It belongs, according to a very clearly defined formation of the cranium, to the tribe of the Huancas. We present the reader with a drawing of this conclusive and interesting proof in opposition to the advocates of mechanical action as the sole and exclusive cause of the phrenological form of the Peruvian race.

P. F. Bellamy makes a similar observation about the two elongated skulls of infants, which were discovered and brought to England by a "Captain Blankley" and handed over to the Museum of the Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society in 1838. According to Bellamy, these skulls belonged to two infants, female and male, "one of which was not more than a few months old, and the other could not be much more than one year." He writes,

It will be manifest from the general contour of these skulls that they are allied to those in the Museum of the College of Surgeons in London, denominated Titicacans. Those adult skulls are very generally considered to be distorted by the effects of pressure; but in opposition to this opinion Dr. Graves has stated that "a careful examination of them has convinced him that their peculiar shape cannot be owing to artificial pressure;" and to corroborate this view, we may remark that the peculiarities are as great in the child as in the adult, and indeed more in the younger than in the elder of the two specimens now produced: and the position is considerably strengthened by the great relative length of the large bones of the cranium; by the direction of the plane of the occipital bone, which is not forced upwards, but occupies a place in the under part of the skull; by the further absence of marks of pressure, there being no elevation of the vertex nor projection of either side; and by the fact of there being no instrument nor mechanical contrivance suited to produce such an alteration of form (as these skulls present) found in connexion with them.