Archaeologists In China Discovered A Collection Of 23 Rectangular Wooden Slips In A Well-Preserved 2,000-Year-Old Tomb That Are Thought To Be Pieces Of An Ancient Celestial Calendar
In China, archaeologists have unearthed a collection of rectangular wooden pieces that are thought to be part of an ancient celestial calendar.
They were found in a 2,000-year-old tomb that was extremely well-preserved. The tomb was located in the Wulong district, which is in the southwest region of the country.
Overall, there were 23 wooden slips, and each one was about four inches long and an inch wide. They are engraved with Chinese characters related to a traditional Chinese astronomical calendar called Tiangan Dizhi, or Ten Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches.
The calendar was established during the Shang dynasty, which ruled from 1600 B.C. to 1045 B.C.
It is believed that one of the slips represented the current year, while the others corresponded to other years in the ancient calendar.
The edge of the wooden slips also had circular perforations that indicated they were tied together at one point. However, archaeologists are still unsure about how exactly the wooden slips were used.
The discovery of the artifacts marked the first time such objects were found in an ancient tomb. The inscriptions made in the wood have not been uncovered anywhere else, despite the fact that it was common practice to write on strips of wood or bamboo before paper was invented.
The tomb also contained a list of all the burial items. Some of the items included bamboo utensils, musical pipes, copper cooking tools, spears, wooden figurines, and various lacquerware containers. Altogether, there were more than 600 artifacts.
The numerous finds were of high quality, showing that a notable figure had been buried there. The tomb was built in 193 B.C., during the occupation of the Western Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 B.C. to 9 A.D.
F16-ISO100 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
According to Ed Krupp, an astronomer and the director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the wooden slips didn’t seem to have functioned as a calendar.
Instead, they appeared to reference any year of the 60-year calendrical cycle. In the Chinese city of Suzhou, a similar practice takes place at a Taoist temple. There, a statue stands for each year in the cycle and is marked when the year becomes current.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:News
