This bronze part from a horse chariot was unearthed from one of the tombs, suggesting the entire chariot and perhaps the horses that drew it were also entombed there.Image credit: Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology
Posted on 07/19/2023 6:44:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The mysterious origins of ancient bronzeware found in a part of northern China may have been uncovered, with the discovery of the ruins of a complete Bronze Age town in the area.
Archaeologists have now recovered hundreds of astonishing artifacts — including bronze drinking vessels, painted pottery, ornaments inlaid with turquoise and carved pieces of jade — at the vast Zhaigou archaeological site, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of the modern city of Yulin in Shaanxi province.
The relics, dating from more than 3,000 years ago, were made during the Shang Dynasty, which ruled northern China from about 1600 B.C. to 1046 B.C...
Experts said that local people had been unearthing ancient artifacts on their farmland since the 1940s, but their origins were unknown. Now, the discovery of the entire Bronze Age settlement at the Zhaigou site, spread over 11 hills and covering more than 1.2 square miles (3 square kilometers), explains their history, the archaeologists said...
Archaeologists have now unearthed more than 200 items from tombs there, such as lacquerware, that are similar to those found at other Shang dynasty sites.
Experts at the news conference said that the ruins at Zhaigou may have once been the capital of a separate state that had been conquered by the Shang, who were based in the city of Yinxu in Henan, and thereafter paid tribute to them.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
This bronze part from a horse chariot was unearthed from one of the tombs, suggesting the entire chariot and perhaps the horses that drew it were also entombed there.Image credit: Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology
This bronze part from a horse chariot.................
Is there another kind?...................
Good question, I think I’ve got a note about that one, I remember writing it down with an ink pen, right after I was diagnosed with yellow jaundice and sugar diabetes. ;^)
I suppose you could count ‘ostrich’ chariots....................
Whatever critter was in wide use for pullin’ stuff probably had chariots attached before they were hooked to wagons.
Thanks, it’s around here somewhere.
The author actually responded to me on open FR thread about 10-15 years ago. BTW, there was no Bronze Age collapse / Greek Dark Age / Sea Peoples horde, which is, uh, why he responded to me. The mystery remains, how did he ever notice my remarks?
Wonder if ours will be known as the Lithium Age...or maybe the Uranium Age?
Here’s another vote for that book. Just finished it.
By the 23rd century, uranium will have been replaced by Dilithium — but only in fiction. :^)
IIRC, horses in northern China/Mongolia are rather small...............but so are the people................
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_culture_in_Mongolia
*I* had a pony!
Now just a minute there, Pilgrim...
2023......................
Ghengis Wayne..............
Some more potential topics.
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