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8,000-Year-Old Drill To Make Fire Found In Zhejiang (China)
Xinhuanet - China View ^ | 2-21-2006

Posted on 02/21/2006 11:57:59 AM PST by blam

8,000-year-old drill to make fire found in Zhejiang

www.chinaview.cn 2006-02-21 17:54:57

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese archaeologists said that parts of an instrument to make fire, dating back to 8,000 years ago, have been found in east China's Zhejiang Province.

The relics, made of bones and wood, were discovered at the Kuahuqiao Relics Site in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province, according to Qianjiang Evening News.

Liu Zhiqing, a retired professor from Zhejiang University, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the relics were part of an instrument to drill wood to get fire.

Some relics in strange shapes were unearthed at the Kuahuqiao Relics Site, which have attracted Chinese archaeologists to investigate their usage.

After studying the relics housed in Xiaoshan Museum, Liu said "Several pieces of the relics were the handle, body and bit of an ancient fire-making drill."

"There should have been a bow to draw the drill to rotate," said Liu.

His opinion was shared by Shi Jianong, curator of Xiaoshan Museum, and Shen Zhongrui, another professor with Zhejiang University, according to the newspaper.

The technology of drilling wood to make fire was acquired by the Upper Cave Man, a type of primitive man who lived at Zhoukoudian in western Beijing in the late Old Stone Age about 20,000 years ago, according to previous archaeological study. But ancient drill to make fire has never been found in China.

Similar drills have been discovered in Egypt and the Euphrates and Tigris Valleys, but they are some 2,000 years older than the drill at Kuahuqiao site, said Liu.

The Kuahuqiao ruins contain the most ancient neolithic culturalrelics in Zhejiang. Over the past decade, numerous pieces of precious pottery, stoneware and jade articles dating back 7,000 to8,000 years havebeen discovered there. Enditem


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 8000; china; drill; fire; found; godsgravesglyphs; make; old; year; zhejiang

1 posted on 02/21/2006 11:58:01 AM PST by blam
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To: SunkenCiv

GGG Ping.


2 posted on 02/21/2006 11:58:36 AM PST by blam
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To: blam
"Gimme back my lighter..."

Image hosting by Photobucket

3 posted on 02/21/2006 12:02:21 PM PST by digger48
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To: digger48

LOL!!!


4 posted on 02/21/2006 12:03:32 PM PST by SIDENET ("IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!")
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To: blam
Chinese archaeologists said that parts of an instrument to make fire, dating back to 8,000 years ago, have been found in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Definitely an old flame.

5 posted on 02/21/2006 12:04:29 PM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys - Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat - But they know what's best.)
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To: digger48

Now that was damn funny!


6 posted on 02/21/2006 12:08:12 PM PST by mutley
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To: blam

Hmmmm... My pastor says that the God created the world only 5,000 years ago.


7 posted on 02/21/2006 12:17:36 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; StayAt HomeMother; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; asp1; ...
Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

8 posted on 02/21/2006 12:20:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books. (Longfellow))
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To: digger48
She gave it to her niece as a cave warming present.
9 posted on 02/21/2006 12:23:02 PM PST by reagandemo (The battle is near are you ready for the sacrifice?)
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To: blam
BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese archaeologists said that parts of an instrument to make fire, dating back to 8,000 years ago, have been found in east China's Zhejiang Province.

A) Can a piece of wood -- esp. one deliberately fashioned in a certain way -- survive in one piece, intact for 8,000 years?

Esp. considering Zhejiang Province is right smack on the coast, for pete sake, and not in the middle of some gawd-forsaken desert!

B) Has this 8,000 find been shown to anyone outside the CC "scientific community"? You know, like say some Western archaeologists/scientist,or scientific magazines, or even non-CC photographers?

10 posted on 02/21/2006 12:38:06 PM PST by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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To: blam

There's gotta be a good joke in here somewhere about a "Chinese fire drill" LOL!


11 posted on 02/21/2006 12:42:57 PM PST by -YYZ-
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To: blam

12 posted on 02/21/2006 2:12:49 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Tagline Repair Service. Let us fix those broken Taglines. Inquire within(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: yankeedame
"A) Can a piece of wood -- esp. one deliberately fashioned in a certain way -- survive in one piece, intact for 8,000 years?"

I have some 7,000 year old wood from the coast of Florida. So...

13 posted on 02/21/2006 3:10:17 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
I have some 7,000 year old wood from the coast of Florida. So...

LOL! Well,there you go. Now I know. Thank 'ye much! (I just wondred b/c the place is on the coast w/ damp soil, flooding, etc. etc.)

14 posted on 02/21/2006 7:01:45 PM PST by yankeedame ("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
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To: yankeedame
I just wondred b/c the place is on the coast w/ damp soil, flooding, etc. etc.)

Several finds have been in peat bogs, etc., that were swamps at one time..
Given the proper circumstances, climate, environment, these sites provide artifacts with fine, compacting silts and clays, plant and root containing substances like tannic acid, all contributing to an overall preservative effect..
The "bog bodies" are an excellent example, as well as the "ice man" of the alps.. Things like hair, human skin and flesh were preserved, leather, feathers, wooden arrows, etc..

Kansas City has an entire museum devoted to the cargo of the steamship "Arabia" which was found buried in the silt/mud of the former riverbed of the Missouri river..

It would seem that moisture is not a factor as long as there is a lack of oxygen, which promotes the decomposition of... just about everything..

15 posted on 02/22/2006 4:58:13 PM PST by Drammach (In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king..)
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To: Brilliant
Hmmmm... My pastor says that the God created the world only 5,000 years ago.

What a nut! Everybody knows that God created the world 5,006 years ago. Hello, we are in 2006, not 2000!

16 posted on 02/23/2006 3:44:31 AM PST by sagar
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To: blam
In 8000 years, some archaeologist will dig up somebody's KFC dinner and conclude that we had chickens with 12 wings and no legs.
17 posted on 02/23/2006 3:51:28 AM PST by mkmensinger
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To: mkmensinger

Or, they will conclude that primitive humans of early 21st century worshipped chicken in temples that existed in every block of every major city.


18 posted on 02/23/2006 4:08:09 AM PST by sagar
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To: sagar

:^)
To give credit where credit is due, my observation is from an old David Brenner routine.


19 posted on 02/23/2006 4:11:17 AM PST by mkmensinger
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To: sagar

Yeah, now that you mention it, he's been saying that for about 5 years.


20 posted on 02/23/2006 5:36:20 AM PST by Brilliant
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