Whoops.
Posted on 02/24/2025 8:50:37 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Global Times reports that Chinese archaeologists have unearthed the earliest known section of the Great Wall in eastern China’s Shandong Province. The Great Wall of China is actually a series of fortifications that were built in separate locations and on separate occasions over 2,000 years that eventually extended more than 13,000 miles. The recent excavations occurred around what is known as the Qi Wall, which was already considered to be the oldest in existence. New dating, however, suggests that the wall’s construction originates to the late Western Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1050–771 b.c) and the Spring and Autumn Period (770–ca. 475 b.c.), making it 300 years older than previously thought. Initially, the barrier, which was built by the Qi State to defend its borders and important trade routes, measured around 30 feet wide but later grew into a 100-foot-wide barricade. In addition, archaeologists also uncovered at least two semisubterranean residences beneath the wall, suggesting that prior to its construction there may have been a small Zhou Dynasty settlement located there.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Global Times reports that Chinese archaeologists have unearthed the earliest known section of the Great Wall in eastern China’s Shandong Province. The Great Wall of China is actually a series of fortifications that were built in separate locations and on separate occasions over 2,000 years that eventually extended more than 13,000 miles. The recent excavations occurred around what is known as the Qi Wall, which was already considered to be the oldest in existence. New dating, however, suggests that the wall’s construction originates to the late Western Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1050–771 b.c) and the Spring and Autumn Period (770–ca. 475 b.c.), making it 300 years older than previously thought. Initially, the barrier, which was built by the Qi State to defend its borders and important trade routes, measured around 30 feet wide but later grew into a 100-foot-wide barricade. In addition, archaeologists also uncovered at least two semisubterranean residences beneath the wall, suggesting that prior to its construction there may have been a small Zhou Dynasty settlement located there.
Whoops.
EXCELLENT! Thanks for the article.
I wouldn’t say great, but It’s a pretty good wall...............
The Great Wall of China is another example of frustrated humans aware of an infinite universe and wanting to leave a mark.
I’ve been on the Wall 4 times in different places.
It is an incredible feat of human enginuity.
Lifetimes dedicated to shouting at the sky.
Oldest Section of China's Great Wall Uncovered
Yet, it could not keep out a bunch of guys that could ride horses and shoot arrows at the same time.
The Khans
Great picture, but that is not the section they’re talking about.
they were let in
wait. what?
I was wondering how that was hid.
I climbed one section of it, once. I will admit that the only thing that kept me going up was a young woman coming down with a baby in her arms.
My boss stayed at the bottom.
What amazing opportunities you’ve had. Sometime you need to write longer descriptions of what it was like for those of us who’ll never experience it.
All it took was bribing one gatekeeper :-)
i was an expat in shanghai, pudong for 3 years
with a maid, driver, apartment
i flew upstairs in 747s 10s of times direct flights and got to know the pilot
the seats reclined into beds
would wake up as a the sun was coming up and breakfast was served
the best memory I have is a US customs agent looking at my passport after 13 months abroad, looking up at me eye to eye and saying “welcome home”
love my county
So glad you’re home, too. Wonderful memories.
I’m terrified of airplanes so IBM Research used to send me cross country multiple times a year by train. I’d bounce off the walls of the compartment for the first day, then gradually relax and get to my meetings a few days later in condition to start all over again.
As an avid devourer of Chinese dramas, I see Shanghai scenes frequently and am most surprised by the level of smog out the high rise windows. Can you feel that in the air you breathe there?
no
what you felt are the taxi cab rides from Maoming Lu back to the gated expat community
There are at least two other walls - not connected to the Great Wall - that are much older
I've been there several times, and yes, you can feel the smog every time you take a breath.
Yup. There were a bunch of different ones each constructed by different kingdoms at different times. Parts that were in the right spot got linked together during the Ming dynasty (cost a fortune, crippling taxes, many thousands died during the construction and were buried in the wall), then the whole works turned out to be basically useless and far too expensive to maintain.
“Historians usually consider the defensive walls built during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) to be the first sections of what would eventually become the structure known as the Great Wall of China, putting the wall at almost 3,000 years old.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Wall-of-China
https://www.britannica.com/event/Spring-and-Autumn-Period
https://www.britannica.com/event/Warring-States
https://www.britannica.com/place/Mongol-empire
https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/conquests/conquests.htm
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ming-dynasty-Chinese-history
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