Free Republic

Once mistaken for the Great Wall of China, archeologists have unearthed an ancient city complete with a 70-meter (230-foot) pyramid, decapitated heads, and a bounty of precious gems. The 4,300-year-old stone city is now named Shimao, although its ancient name is unknown. At 400 hectares... Shimao is found in a region often been described in Chinese histories as a home to "barbarians". While little is known about the ancient city, its grandeur and intricacy suggest it was once politically and economically important in the region. The buildings were quarried from nearby sandstone whose extraction, transportation, and use were labor-intensive and...

A team working at the Shimao archaeological site in Shaanxi province made the discovery during a recent excavation of the city’s Neolithic ruins, which are thought to date back to about 2,000BC, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday. “The beast-face patterns found in Shimao might have had a significant influence on the motifs of China’s Bronze Age,” Sun Zhouyong, president of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, said in the report. Researchers unearthed about 30 carvings at the site with designs similar to those found on the elaborately decorated bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1600-256BC). While most...

A recent discovery at a ruined city in north-west China has amazed archaeologists and other experts. Researchers at the Bronze Age archaeological site of Shimao have identified a large step pyramid. This unusual find is bound to add to our knowledge of early China and throw some light on the mysterious culture that thrived for centuries in the city of Shimao. It is also challenging notions as to when and where Chinese civilization began to develop and where it first emerged.

Archaeologists unearth a portrait of a king carved into stone in a 4,300-year-old Chinese Pyramid A team of archaeologists say they have found what could be the portrait of a king carved into stone at the foot of the 4,300-year-old Shimao Pyramid in Shenmu, Shaanxi province in northwest China. Shimao archaeological site is located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, on the southern edge of the Ordos Desert. The site dates to about 2000 BC towards the end of the Longshan period and covers an area of about 400 ha. The walls at Shimao, the largest known walled...