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Digging Back Into Time
Archaeologists have recently reported a number of research results offering new insights into ancient Chinese history.
Underground maze
They have completed extensive studies at the site of the Gui Palace, a special palace for empresses and imperial concubines in the ancient city of Chang'an, former capital of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 24) and the largest city in the world at that time.
The researchers believe the empresses and concubines used a complicated system of underground tunnels and chambers found at the site near Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The Gui Palace, used for more than 100 years from the middle of the Western Han Dynasty was jointly excavated by Chinese and Japanese archaeologists over the past four years.
"Underground buildings have rarely been found in Chinese palaces," said Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"It's too early to make any conclusions about the use of the newly-found buildings. We only know they were not used for recreational or living purposes. Maybe the rooms were used only for important imperial activities," Liu said.
According to Li Yufang, head of the archaeological team, the Gui Palace has a haphazard design.
Liu Qingzhu said that the Han was the only dynasty in Chinese history to build a separate palace for empresses and imperial concubines.
The living quarters for queens of other dynasties were included in the imperial palaces.
"Women in the palace also participated in politics. Research of the queens' palace will help us understand more about the role women played in politics," said Liu.
Black stone instrument
Also in Shaanxi Province, a farmer in the county of Zhouzhi recently discovered a black stone musical instrument, which is believed to be 3,000 years old.
It is still able to produce a clear sound.
Han Mingde, a local archaeologist, identified it as a "qing," an ancient musical instrument.
The stone instrument, 56 centimetres long, 2.5 centimetres thick, and weighing 6.2 kilograms, is of simple design.
It has no decoration, with just a small hole to hang it up.
Han Mingde said Zhouzhi was a highly developed region during China's Shang and Zhou dynasties about 3,000 years ago. He believes the stone was probably an imperial instrument used in ceremonies.
The "qing," made of either stone or jade, was an important ancient musical instrument and first appeared in China before 1,600 BC.
The finding is an important contribution to the research of Chinese musical history, said experts.
Hard writing tools
At Dunhuang, the city where the famous Mogao Grottoes are located, a researcher believes that the decorative patterns and symbols on Chinese pottery crafted during prehistoric times were made with hard writing tools, not long, soft brushes.
The primitive hard writing tools were made of bamboo, wood, animal bones and horns, clods of soil and black lead, said Li Zhengyu, a researcher with the China Dunhuang Studies Institute in Northwest China's Gansu Province.
Although soft brushes had been the major writing and drawing tools throughout Chinese history, hard tools were the earliest "pens" of the ancient Chinese, Li said.
On the pottery of the Neolithic Age, 10,000 to 4,000 years ago, artists drew the outline of designs with hard, sharp tools.
Coloured pictures appeared on the pottery in a later period. However, the coloured areas contain many thin scratches, and no traces of brush use are evident, Li said.
During the late period of the Neolithic Age, artists used bird feathers or rabbit tails to paint large areas. But these were not the major drawing tools at that time, Li said.
The indoor ground paintings, dating back more than 5,000 years ago, were found at the Dadiwan relic site in Qin'an County, Gansu. They were made with black charcoal, which was quite similar to today's pencil, Li added.
Nanjing Man
In Nanjing, after completing the latest evaluation of the skull, local palaeontologists and their Australian colleagues have confirmed that "Nanjing Man" lived more than 500,000 years ago according to Professor Wang Yongjin of Nanjing Normal University.
After using a new thermal ionization mass spectrometer, Zhao Jianxin from the University of Queensland, Australia, estimated the skull dated back 580,000 to 620,000 years.
This is consistent with the results Professor Wang and Chinese American scientist Cheng Hai obtained some years ago in the United States.
A male and a female skull of "Nanjing Man" were discovered in 1993 in Tangshan Cave near Nanjing, and were initially believed to be about 150,000 years old.
Scientists held that the discovery of "Nanjing Man" provides important clues to human evolution.
It follows the other significant discoveries of "Peking Man," "Yuanmo Man" in Yunnan, "Lantian Man" in Shaanxi and "Hetian Man" in Anhui.
Chinese scientists believe that their research indicates that multiple regions have contributed to human evolution.
Such beliefs have been questioned by some international scientists, who hold that Africa was the only place where human beings evolved.
The skull is now preserved in Nanjing Museum and undergoing in-depth research.
Professor Wang first published a thesis on "Nanjing Man" in 1999.
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