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When in Vietnam, Build Boats as the Romans Do Richard Stone INDO-PACIFIC PREHISTORY ASSOCIATION CONGRESS, 20-26 MARCH 2006, MANILA In December 2004, researchers drained a canal in northern Vietnam in search of ancient textiles from graves. They found that and a whole lot more. Protruding from the canal bank at Dong Xa was a 2000-year-old log boat that had been used as a coffin. After a closer look at the woodwork, archaeologists Peter Bellwood and Judith Cameron of Australia National University in Canberra and their colleagues were astounded to find that the method for fitting planks to hull matched that...

Archaeologists Have Uncovered Over 100,000 Ancient Coins During Excavations In Maebashi City, Japan. The discovery was made during construction works of a new factory in Sojamachi district, where a cache of over 100,000 coins was found in 1,060 bundles. According to the researchers, an analysis of 334 coins in the cache shows a “remarkable diversity”, encompassing 44 distinct currency types. The coins have origins that mainly span from China’s Western Han Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, with the most notable being Ban Liang coins. Ban Liang coins were introduced by the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, as China’s first...

Most are unaware that there were Ancient Greek kingdoms in China and that Hellenism spread all the way to Japan and Korea via India. However, the fact is that the Greeks were indeed in China, and, in addition to this, Hellenism spread to the entirety of the East Asian Buddhist world. In fact, the first anthropomorphic statue of Buddha was created by the Greeks. The famous Silk Road that connected Europe to China actually opened because of a war between Greeks of Alexandria Eschate. Alexandria Eschate, meaning “Alexandria the Farthest,” is located in the Fergana Valley in what is modern...

"The ruler of Da Qin is not permanent. When disasters result from unusual phenomena, they unceremoniously replace him, installing a virtuous man as king, and release the old king, who does not dare show resentment..."Here we have the words of the early third century Chinese historian Yu Huan, who lived during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Though he never left China, he collected large amounts of information on the countries to the West, chief among them the Roman Empire.Enormous thanks to John E. Hill for kindly allowing us to use his translation, and for tips on the possible...

A pair of newly-discovered 2,200 year-old copper Buddhas statues found in China are the oldest of their kind to be discovered in the country The small figurines were part of a trove of artifacts found among a group of ancient tombs from the Eastern Han Dynasty. One statue, known as Shakyamuni, shows Buddha standing on a platform while dressed in a long cloak and the other is for Five Tathāgatas, which highlights the five great Buddhas. These figurines are 200 years older previous Buddha statues found in China and were fashioned in Gandhara style. That is a style of Buddhist...

Pasta is Italy’s staple food, but it’s not only Italians who indulge in platefuls of the doughy concoction every day. People all over the world adore it. It comes in more than 300 shapes: long, as in spaghetti; flat, as in fettuccine; hollow (bucatini); short, as in penne; the butterfly-shaped farfalle and ear-shaped orecchiette; tubular (rigatoni); and stuffed, in varieties such as tortellini and ravioli. It can be bought dry or freshly made from egg-based dough. World Pasta Day, held each October , celebrates the universal love of this staple of the Mediterranean diet. But who invented pasta? Legend has...

Abacus is a Latin word meaning sand tray. The word originates with the Arabic "abq", which means dust or fine sand. In Greek this would become abax or abakon which means table or tablet... Probably, the first device was the counting board. This appeared at various times in several places around the world. The earliest counting boards consisted of a tray made of sun dried clay or wood. A thin layer of sand would be spread evenly on the surface, and symbols would be drawn in the sand with a stick or ones finger. To start anew, one would simply...

Romans may have learned from Chinese Great Wall: archaeologists The construction of the Roman Limes was quite possibly influenced by the concept of the Great Wall in China, though the two great buildings of the world are far away from each other, said archaeologists and historians. Although there is no evidence that the two constructions had any direct connections, indirect influence from the Great Wall on the Roman Limes is certain, said Visy Zsolt, a professor with the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology of the University of Pecs in Hungary. Visy made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua...

They were two powerful, ancient empires separated by more than 5,000 miles of imposing mountain ranges, barren desert and exposed steppe grasslands. Yet a collection of seemingly unremarkable bones discovered in a Roman cemetery in London has provided new insights into the links between the Roman Empire and Imperial China. Analysis has revealed that two skeletons dating from between the 2nd and 4th Century AD unearthed at the site in the city's Southwark area may have been Chinese.

After testing, Chinese researchers have confirmed that the 3,000 ml of unknown liquid found in a bronze pot unearthed in central China's Henan province is alcohol dating to the early Western Han dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 24). In a tomb in the city of Sanmenxia, archaeologists discovered the pot with a curved neck in the shape of a swan this May. Researchers from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) also found that the alcohol was similar to the medicinal liquor recorded in an ancient medical book discovered in the Mawangdui Tombs of the Han Dynasty in...

Chinese archaeologists have examined a batch of bamboo slips unearthed from a Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) tomb and found they recorded the long-lost rules of "liubo", an ancient Chinese board game. More than 5,200 bamboo slips were excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun near Nanchang in eastern China's Jiangxi Province. Over 1,000 of them were recently confirmed to be inscribed with the rules of liubo, according to the institute of excavated text research at Peking University, which is in charge of examining the items. Liubo, literally "six sticks," is a two-player board game dating back...

Christian Designs Found in Tomb Stones of Eastern Han Dynasty [2002-08-02] Studies show that as early as 86 A.D., or the third year under the reign of "Yuanhe" of Eastern Han, Dynasty Christianity entered into China, 550 years earlier than the world accepted time. When studying a batch of stone carvings of Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) stored and exhibited in the Museum of Xuzhou Han Stone Carvings, Christian theology professor Wang Weifan was greatly surprised by some stone engravings demonstrating the Bible stories and designs of early Christian times. Further studies showed that some of these engravings were made...

Bricks with molded designs unearthed in Chongqingwww.chinaview.cn 2004-01-12 20:52:43 CHONGQING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists in southwest China's Chongqing municipality have unearthed more than 20 pieces of brick reliefs from a tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 A.D.-220 A.D.). Lin Bizhong, a noted archaeologist with the Chongqing MunicipalArchaeological Team, said this was the first time that bricks withmolded designs had been unearthed in Chongqing. Previously, such tomb bricks had been excavated from Sichuan province, southwest China, and have been included as relics under state key protection. Lin acknowledged that the brick-and-stone-structured tomb, fromwhich brick reliefs were unearthed, had been...

One day in a spring, an elderly man walked alone on a stone road lined by young willows in Xuzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province. At the end of the road was a museum that few people have heard of. A Chinese theology professor says the first Christmas is depicted in the stone relief from the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). In the picture above a woman and a man are sitting around what looks like a manger, with allegedly "the three wise men" approaching from the left side, holding gifts, "the shepherd" following them, and "the assassins" queued...

Roman-style column bolsters Han Dynasty tomb Archeologists excavate near a Roman-style column in a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007. (newsphoto) Nearby villagers look on at the stone entrance of a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007. (newsphoto) An archeologists cleans carved stones in a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007. (newsphoto)

At the cemetery of the 'Marquis of Haihun' in east China's Jiangxi Province, the identity of a tomb owner has been confirmed to be the eldest son of the controversial Chinese emperor Liu He. Grandson of Emperor Wu - who was known as one of the greatest rulers of the Han Dynasty - Liu He was given the title 'Marquis of Haihun' after he was unseated as emperor, having only lasted 27 days. He was dethroned by the royal faction for his lack of morals and talent. Archaeologists said that a metal seal reading 'Liu Chongguo' was unearthed from the...

OSLO (Reuters) - A 200-year period covering the heyday of both the Roman Empire and China's Han dynasty saw a big rise in greenhouse gases, according to a study that challenges the U.N. view that man-made climate change only began around 1800. A record of the atmosphere trapped in Greenland's ice found the level of heat-trapping methane rose about 2,000 years ago and stayed at that higher level for about two centuries. Methane was probably released during deforestation to clear land for farming and from the use of charcoal as fuel, for instance to smelt metal to make weapons, lead...

Ancient Romans, Chinese Helped Warm Planet ICE SAMPLES REVEAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff Posted Oct 4, 2012 1:08 AM CDT (NEWSER) – Human activity contributed to climate change long before the Industrial Revolution, according to new research. Scientists analyzing ice core samples from Greenland found a spike in emissions of the greenhouse gas methane during a 200-year period around 2,000 years ago, when the ancient Roman and Chinese empires were at their peak, reports the Los Angeles Times. Researchers believe the rise was caused by the widespread use of charcoal as fuel and the burning of...

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...

BEIJING: Archaeologists in China have found the ruins of a 2,000-year-old city dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty, a report said Wednesday. The site, located near Fujiacun village in Fengcheng city in Jiangxi province, covers about 18,000 square metres and is surrounded by a moat, Xinhua news agency reported. About 30 metres of the wall surrounding the ancient city was still standing on its west and pieces of broken tiles were found scattered on the ground, it said. Villagers said they had seen stone implements at the site in the past, but none was found during a field trip...