Multiplication Table From 1,800 Years Ago Discovered In Hunan

Peoples Daily ^ | 3-9-2004

[blam]

Multiplication table from 1,800 years ago found in Hunan

Archeologists claimed that they had found a multiplication table at the Gurendi cultural relics ofthe Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province.

Archeologists claimed that they had found a multiplication table at the Gurendi cultural relics ofthe Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province.

The table was discovered on a 22cm-long wooden strip which was broken when it was discovered and the handwriting on it is quite illegible.

"We can see that the multiplication table begins at nine times nine equals 81, in a sequence that is the inverted opposite of modern tables, which start at one times one is one," said Zhang Chunlong, a research member with Hunan Archaeological Research Institute.

This is the second time Zhang has come across traditional Chinese multiplication tables inscribed on wooden strips. The others were found on a wooden strip of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206BC), the oldest ever discovered in China, excavated at a site in Liye City in Hunan Province in June 2002.

An expert with China Cultural Relics Research Institute said another multiplication table similar the newly unearthed one was discovered in documents from Loulan, which was written on two pieces of paper and discovered by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin a century ago.

"Ancient Chinese were not the only people inventing multiplication tables as they have also been discovered on the clay tablets from ancient Babylon," said Liu Dun, director of the Institute of History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"But as the pronunciation of Chinese words is monosyllabic, the traditional Chinese multiplication table can be read smoothly and easily to be remembered and used," said Liu.

The excavation of the Gurendi cultural relics site began in April 1987. So far, 90 wooden strips of the Eastern Han Dynasty have been unearthed, covering a wide variety of subjects, including laws and regulations, prescriptions, official documents,letters, calendars and multiplication tables.

[blam]

Loulan is the area where all the Caucasian mummies were found that date back to 2000BC. Chinese skeletons first began appearing in this area only about 100BC. There are numerous poems lamenting the green eyes of the Han Emperors.

There is a Caucasian mummy named "The Beauty Of Loulan," from this area, whose face the Ugyhars have reconstructed and now call here the 'mother of their country' and here image appears on various state documents and flags.

I will post images of 'The Beauty Of Loulan' and an article (The Curse Of The Red-Headed Mummy) about the other mummies from this area.

[blam]

The Beauty Of Loulan

[blam]

The Curse Of The Red-Headed Mummy

[JimSEA]

Interesting, they have found the remains of a late Han school. If they can construct the subject matter you might know more about any melding of cultures. A lot is lost due to the nature of the writing materials. Each dynasty only copied the "useful" material of the earlier one. Ther were no Irish Monks to save the Far East.

[blam]

" If they can construct the subject matter you might know more about any melding of cultures."

I'm worried about the secrecy of the Chinese and their insistence that their culture was not influenced by 'outsiders'. They withheld the DNA material extracted from the mummies by Victor Mair and his colleagues. The mummies themselves were accidently found in the unlighted backroom of a museum by Mair.

[Fedora]

I'm worried about the secrecy of the Chinese and their insistence that their culture was not influenced by 'outsiders'. They withheld the DNA material extracted from the mummies by Victor Mair and his colleagues. The mummies themselves were accidently found in the unlighted backroom of a museum by Mair.

Yeah, I'm somewhat wary of Chinese archaeological claims because of that type of issue. As you may know there's also been a problem with Chinese fossil dealers selling fake "earliest known bird" skeletons:

Dino Hoax Was Mainly Made of Ancient Bird, Study Says

[blam]

"As you may know there's also been a problem with Chinese fossil dealers selling fake "earliest known bird" skeletons:"

Yup. I'm aware of that.

[blam]

[Fedora]

I'm not able to see the picture you posted on FR with my browser, but if I right-click on "Properties" and cut-and-paste the link that comes up it takes me here:

Mummies Unwrapped

Is this the map you were trying to post, showing a yellow band running from the Beijing area through the Asian steppes into the Balkans:

http://library.thinkquest.org/J003409/media/!map.jpe?tqskip1=1

?

I'm assuming the yellow band shows where mummies of various sorts have been found? If so that's quite interesting, as the yellow area is the same band through which some authors (e.g. Carlo Ginzburg in Ecstasies) have argued that Asian shamanic influence penetrated Europe via the Scythians, and presumably other steppe peoples would've used this same route as well.

[JimSEA]

For a very long time under the "Peoples Liberation Army", Archeaology was just another tool of state propaganda for sure. However, what I have read lately, academics and curiosity seem to be winning. In China, you can never tell how long the science will be more important than the BS. Books I have read recently approved by the PRC are actually good. It still is very hard for "Outsiders" to publish anything not approved but Chinese scholars are coming "out of the closet".

That said, we can hope they will not slant and/or repress data. Also, they are not so quick to attack the findings in other Asian countries. Their big concern at present is that archaeological discoveries not get in the way of business (ie. Three Gorges Dam). You would get quite ill thinking about what will be lost under the Three Gorges lake.

[blam]

"http://library.thinkquest.org/J003409/media/!map.jpe?tqskip1=1"

Yes, that is the one I posted....it has disappeared for me too. Remember last week we were discussing Keremchi (the drug-dealers, lol)...I believe it is in the yellow shaded area up above the word 'Mongolia' (on the map). There were/are Caucasians all through that area in ancient times.

[blam]

"It still is very hard for "Outsiders" to publish anything not approved but Chinese scholars are coming "out of the closet".

I tend to agree.

"You would get quite ill thinking about what will be lost under the Three Gorges lake."

I can imagine. Well, we'll have another catastrophic event in the future that will put the world into another Dark Ages, the dam will break and be forgotten and archaeologists 10k years from now will be looking into the 'bottom' of the ex-lake and find what's there...

[blam]

"(e.g. Carlo Ginzburg in Ecstasies) have argued that Asian shamanic influence penetrated Europe via the Scythians, and presumably other steppe peoples would've used this same route as well."

Could be. I don't 'do' witches and such. I will add that I've read that the Han Emperors had red-headed men as their 'magic' men. (Whatever a 'magic' man is.)

[Fedora]

Yes, that is the one I posted....it has disappeared for me too.

I saved it in case it disappears again--LOL!

Remember last week we were discussing Keremchi (the drug-dealers, lol)...I believe it is in the yellow shaded area up above the word 'Mongolia' (on the map). There were/are Caucasians all through that area in ancient times.

Okay--interesting.

[Fedora]

"(e.g. Carlo Ginzburg in Ecstasies) have argued that Asian shamanic influence penetrated Europe via the Scythians, and presumably other steppe peoples would've used this same route as well."

Could be. I don't 'do' witches and such.

LOL! Unfortunately I can't find a good summary review online, though a friend of mine from the History Department at U-Kentucky has written one I have a hard copy of. To sum up, Ginzburg's basic argument--building on Mircea Eliade's studies of Siberian shamanism--is that certain motifs in medieval witchcraft can also be found in Siberian shamanism, with the most likely route of transmission being from the Scythians via the Celts and the cult of Diana in Roman-influenced Celtic areas.

I will add that I've read that the Han Emperors had red-headed men as their 'magic' men. (Whatever a 'magic' man is.)

I don't know much about Han practices, but I'll look it up. I do know there's a heavy streak of shamanic magic in both Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Taoism which are often classified as akin to Siberian shamanism. There's some information on this in the above-referenced Mircea Eliade, Shamanism:

First published in 1951, Shamanism soon became the standard work in the study of this mysterious and fascinating phenomenon. Writing as the founder of the modern study of the history of religion, Romanian émigré--scholar Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) surveys the practice of Shamanism over two and a half millennia of human history, moving from the Shamanic traditions of Siberia and Central Asia--where Shamanism was first observed--to North and South America, Indonesia, Tibet, China, and beyond. In this authoritative survey, Eliade illuminates the magico-religious life of societies that give primacy of place to the figure of the Shaman--at once magician and medicine man, healer and miracle-doer, priest, mystic, and poet. Synthesizing the approaches of psychology, sociology, and ethnology, Shamanism will remain for years to come the reference book of choice for those intrigued by this practice.

[farmfriend]

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[CobaltBlue]

Loulan's on the Silk Road. It wouldn't be surprising to find anything from any Silk Road culture anywhere along the Silk Road.

Like finding stuff in a city near an Interstate, or in a port city.

Human beings get around, especially when motivated by trade.

[Fedora]

Yes--I agree. What I find surpising about it is how early the Silk Road was apparently being used. I think there's growing evidence that the Silk Road was being used to trade between China and the Middle East/Europe at least as early as 2000 BC. In addition to the evidence of the mummies that have been discussed and the shamanism example I mention, there's the fact that the Chinese Bronze Age starts c. 2000 BC, well after the Bronze Age in the Middle East and Europe. In relation to the mummies blam has also mentioned some interesting finds along the Silk Road reminiscent of Iron Age Europe's Hallstatt culture.

[blam]

"Loulan's on the Silk Road. It wouldn't be surprising to find anything from any Silk Road culture anywhere along the Silk Road. "

Yup. Just a short way down the road from the Jade Gate at Dunhuang in the Great Wall Of China.
BTW, it's pronounced Rouran in Chinese, really.

[SunkenCiv]

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