Archaeological finds reveal prehistoric civilization along Silk Road

Global Times ^ | July 25, 2013 | Xinhua

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists have unearthed relics that suggest prehistoric humans lived along the Silk Road long before it was created about 2,000 years ago as a pivotal Eurasian trade network.

An excavation project that started in 2010 on ruins in northwest China's Gansu Province has yielded evidence that people who lived on the west bank of the Heihe River 4,100 to 3,600 years ago were able to grow crops and smelt copper, the researchers said.

The site is believed to date back to the Han Dynasty (202 BC - AD 220).

Over the past three years, archaeologists have discovered a variety of copper items, as well as equipment used to smelt metal, said Chen Guoke, a researcher with the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology...

Chen added that a rare copper-smelting mill was also found in the ruins...

The researchers also discovered carbonized barley and wheat seeds, as well as stone hoes and knives used for farming, said Zhang, adding that some adobe houses were also found this year.

The finds indicate that east-west exchanges started prior to the Han Dynasty, as adobe architecture, barley and wheat originated in central and west Asia, according to Zhang...

From 2003 to 2005, archaeologists excavated the Xihetan ruins in Gansu's city of Jiuquan...

Footprints of the livestock and their skeletons were also found at the site.

In 2005, researchers from China and Japan completed a three-year excavation project at the Mozuizi ruins in Gansu's city of Wuwei, finding traces of a primitive tribe that lived about 4,500 years ago.

[blam]

"Thanks JS, I think blam posted the Urumchi mummy topics, or at least most of ‘em. :’)"

Yup.

The Asian skeletial remains (Han Chinese) only began to show up in the Urumchi area around 200BC. There were still Caucasian only grave yards in that area into the 1300's.