A 600-year-old set of surgical tools found in a tomb in China has revealed the world's first chemical evidence of a topical anesthetic. Used to numb the skin in surgical procedures, the anesthetic was made from the highly toxic plant Chinese wolfsbane. However, the toxic plant was likely detoxified first with urine, among other things.

"Six centuries ago, a Ming Dynasty surgeon performed an operation with a pair of iron scissors and tweezers, and today we have read the traces of anaesthetic medicine left on those instruments using a beam of laser light," study co-author Congcang Zhao, an archaeologist at Northwest University in China, said in a statement.

In a study published Tuesday (May 26) in the journal Antiquity, Zhao and colleagues analyzed two surgical implements discovered decades ago in the Ming Dynasty (circa 1368 to 1644) tomb of Xia Quan in the city of Jiangyin, roughly 90 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of Shanghai.

Based on an X-ray fluorescence analysis, which is a non-destructive technique that reveals the elemental composition of an object, the researchers determined the scissors and tweezers were both made from iron. Then, under a microscope, they selected three tiny particles of rust-colored residue on the tools with the hope of identifying traces of organic compounds.

To figure out the composition of the residue, the researchers used micro-Raman spectroscopy, a technique in which a laser is beamed at a sample, causing the sample's photons to scatter. The pattern of that scattering can then be analyzed to generate the structural fingerprint of the molecules in the sample.

The Raman spectroscopy analysis of the two surgical tools revealed the presence of the cyano functional group, which is found in hydrogen cyanide, as well as the organic components of oils and fats. Taken together, these results indicated "medicinal and potentially anaesthetic properties for the residues," the researchers wrote. "The alkaloid toxin aconitine is suggested as a probable component of the residues."

Aconitine is found in plants of the Aconitum genus, which are native to North America, Europe and Asia. Also known as aconite, monkshood and wolfsbane, the flowering plants are extremely poisonous — but they have also been used in traditional Asian medicine for centuries, primarily for their analgesic properties. Practitioners in the Ming Dynasty knew how to mitigate the plants' poison, the researchers wrote, by using acidic substances such as mung beans, vinegar or the urine of young boys to detoxify the aconite and turn it into an anesthetic powder or liquid.

"Ming physicians used iron surgical instruments and controlled the toxicity of aconitine through topical application, compound prescriptions and strict procedural controls, demonstrating a practical ability to balance drug potency with patient safety," Zhao said.

The 600-year-old iron implements were likely used in minor surgeries, the researchers noted. First, the practitioner would apply the numbing agent to the area, then use the tweezers to hold the skin and the scissors to trim away the outer layer. Anesthetic residue was present on both tools and was concentrated in functional areas consistent with application during surgery. It's likely that the anesthetic in this case was in liquid form; it may have splashed onto the iron implements, escaping cleaning and eventually corroding the metal.

This analysis represents the first time that researchers have found direct chemical evidence of anesthetics on ancient surgical tools. "Combined with records of anaesthetic prescriptions in Ming Dynasty medical texts, the study confirms that Aconitum was employed as a topical anaesthetic, safely and precisely applied during surgical procedures," Zhao said.

Can you guess the diagnosis in these strange medical cases? Find out with our diagnostic dilemma quiz!

Abrupt population drops over 3,000 years ago in the waning years of China's Shang dynasty were likely the result of a deadly increase in typhoons and related weather events, according to a new study that combined ancient texts, archaeological evidence and paleoclimate modeling.

These coastal typhoons likely caused disastrous climate events, such as massive floods, that hit China's Central Plains, sometimes called the "cradle of Chinese civilization." This area was home to a royal dynasty called the Shang that ruled the Yellow River valley from 1600 to 1046 B.C. The Shang dynasty is known for having the earliest evidence of writing, in the form of divination texts inscribed on "oracle bones" made from turtle shells and ox shoulder bones. In addition, tens of thousands of bronze, ceramic and jade artifacts have been unearthed at the Shang capital in the modern-day city of Anyang, revealing the wealth and power of the dynasty before it was overthrown by the Zhou people.

In a study published Wednesday (March 4) in the journal Science Advances, researchers investigated whether extreme climate events could have contributed to cultural changes in inland China around the time the Shang dynasty collapsed. The researchers correlated information from oracle bones and archaeological sites with paleoclimate models and discovered that intensified typhoons and related weather events might have been to blame.

First, the team counted the instances of weather-related writing on over 55,000 pieces of oracle bone scripts dated to between 1250 and 1046 B.C., the last two centuries of the Shang dynasty. The oracle bones included a larger proportion of divinations related to upcoming heavy rain and water-related disasters in the middle of the time period, suggesting an increase in the Shang society's concern about extreme rainfall events in the Central Plains, the researchers wrote in the study.

The Shang dynasty was not the only society experiencing a population decline in what is now central China. The team examined archaeological data for flood layers in the Chengdu Plain southwest of the Central Plains. Chengdu was occupied by the Shu kingdom, which existed at the same time as the Shang but lasted until 316 B.C. They found evidence of flood-damaged buildings dating to 950 B.C. and flood-destroyed dikes from 500 B.C. Additionally, archaeological sites in the Chengdu Plain decreased in number and became geographically concentrated in relatively elevated areas, suggesting that people were relocating to higher ground.

The researchers' paleoclimate modeling showed that northward typhoons and related weather events intensified between 1850 and 1350 B.C., affecting the Shang in the Central Plains, and that westward typhoon activities intensified between 850 and 500 B.C., affecting the Shu in the Chengdu Plain.

"What stood out here was intensified typhoon activities," the researchers wrote, which may have caused widespread inland flooding and resulted in population decline and social changes in the Central Plains and Chengdu Plain. "Intensified typhoon activities exerted unexpected disastrous influences in inland China during the Bronze Age," they wrote.

The climate conditions in this area were extremely variable, however, and the researchers noted that other climate-related hazards may have contributed to cultural instability in Bronze Age China. In particular, droughts caused by El Niño-like conditions could have hit the Central Plains around 1350 B.C. and disrupted the culture, similar to how protracted droughts ushered in the collapse of many cities within the Maya civilization.

Although the researchers are not certain exactly how the ancient climate affected inland Chinese civilizations, they suggested that typhoon-induced extreme weather events were as much of a concern in the past as they are today. But by integrating archaeological evidence, oracle bone scripts and paleoclimate proxies, the researchers wrote, the study is the first to reveal links between coastal typhoon activity, inland extreme rainfall, flooding and social changes around 1050 B.C.

Live Science reached out to the study's authors for comment, but they did not respond by the time of publication.

Ancient China began as a group of isolated communities during the Stone Age and eventually grew into a formidable empire. Ancient Chinese people developed their own writing system and several famous philosophies that are still studied today. The civilization is also known for building the Great Wall of China.

Five dynasties, or families, ruled ancient China for more than 6,000 years. The last one of the ancient period, the Han dynasty, ruled around the same time as the ancient Roman Empire. Today, archaeologists study ancient Chinese artifacts to find clues about the civilization's culture, religion and technological developments.

5 fast facts about Ancient China

• Around 3,000 years ago, people in ancient China used "oracle bones" — tortoise shells or bones inscribed with Chinese writing — to predict the future.
• The magnetic compass was invented during ancient China's Han dynasty, but at first, it was used to predict the future instead of to navigate.
• Around 2,200 years ago, ancient China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, began connecting many small walls to build the now-famous Great Wall of China. It eventually became over 13,000 miles (20,000 kilometers) long.
• In ancient China, people thought dragons were real, godly figures with magical powers.
• Paper was invented in ancient China up to 1,900 years ago.

Everything you need to know about Ancient China

Ancient China pictures

More than 1,000 years ago in dynastic China, many young girls had their toes tightly bound in gauze strips to create the illusion of dainty feet. The oldest preserved example of their petite footwear, called "lotus shoes," dates to the 13th century, but the practice of foot-binding — known as "chanzu" in Chinese — lasted until the mid-20th century.

Foot-binding was a type of body modification practiced mainly by the Han Chinese on young girls. Between the ages of about 4 and 8, a young girl would have her feet wrapped in bandages or gauze by her mother. The goal was to create extremely tiny-looking feet by bending all four little toes under the sole of the foot and bringing the front and back of the foot as close together as possible by breaking the bones of the arch of the foot. The practice, which is reported to have been severely painful, was at various times a marker of high status, a representation of feminine beauty and a way to restrict women's physical movement.

"The bandages that women used for footbinding were about 10 feet long, so it was difficult for them to wash their feet," Chinese writer Yang Yang, whose mother had bound feet, told NPR. "They only washed once every two weeks, so it was very, very stinky."

The earliest known archaeological examples of lotus shoes come from the Song dynasty (960 to 1279) in China. According to experts at the Textile Research Centre (TRC) in Leiden, Netherlands, six pairs of shoes were found in the tomb of Lady Huang Sheng, who lived from 1227 to 1243, and they averaged just 5 inches (13 centimeters) long. Several other tombs dated to the 13th century also revealed evidence of foot-binding, suggesting it was an upper-class practice and a prerequisite for a woman's "proper" marriage.

There are surviving examples of numerous types of lotus shoes, including daytime boots, wedding shoes and sleeping socks. Lotus shoes were commonly made from cotton, wool or silk and were often intricately embroidered with flowers and birds. The smallest example of a lotus shoe in the TRC Leiden exhibit measures just 2.4 inches (6 cm) long.

By the late 19th century, the practice of foot-binding was falling out of favor in China due to fights for women's rights, as the binding significantly deformed women's feet and caused pain. But foot-binding was practiced in some areas until 1949, meaning that a few elderly women with bound feet can still be found today. The last factory that made lotus shoes closed in 1999, although some smaller shops continued even after that.

For more stunning archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archives.

Just outside the gate of a 4,000-year-old city in China, archaeologists found a pit full of 80 skulls from human sacrifice victims. Now, a new study has revealed a surprising fact about the victims: Nine out of 10 were men.

In the study, published Nov. 26 in the journal Nature, researchers analyzed DNA collected from skeletons found in the ancient city of Shimao and its satellite towns to figure out the social and kinship structure of this Neolithic society.

The ancient stone-walled city of Shimao was first discovered in Shaanxi province in 2018. Occupied between about 2300 and 1800 B.C., Shimao was roughly 1.5 square miles (4 square kilometers). The city featured a large step pyramid, craft specialization areas and two cemeteries.

Archaeologists also found two different forms of human sacrifice: one involving the heads of decapitated individuals, buried in "skull pits" near the city gate; and another involving the entombing of a lower-status individual — usually a female — as a sacrifice in a higher-status person's burial.

In the new study, the researchers used DNA analysis to figure out the biological sex of the skulls in the pit discovered beneath the foundation of Shimao's Dongmen (East Gate).

"In contrast to previous archaeological reports that identified these sacrifices as female-based," the researchers wrote in the study, the new DNA results "showed no evidence of female bias, with 9 out of 10 victims being men."

This finding surprised archaeologists, because the sacrifices associated with the elite burials at Shimao and its satellite towns were predominantly female.

"These patterns of mostly female sacrifices starkly contrast with Dongmen, in which decapitation and mass burial involved mostly sampled men," the researchers wrote. "This suggests Shimao's sacrificial practices were highly structured, with gender-specific roles tied to distinct ritual purposes and locations," according to a statement from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Additionally, when the researchers looked at the sacrificed men's DNA, they found no differences in their ancestry compared to the ancestry of the elite tomb occupants, meaning the sacrificial victims were not "outsiders."

Although the reason for the sex-specific sacrifice customs is still unclear, researchers have offered some possible explanations.

The cemetery-based sacrifices "may represent ancestor veneration, in which women were sacrificed to honour elite nobles or rulers," according to the researchers, while the sacrificed skulls in the pit "were probably connected to a construction ritual of the walls or gate."

Terracotta Army quiz: What do you know about the 'warriors' in the 2,200-year-old tomb of China's 1st emperor?

For millennia, an ethnic group in what's now southwest China placed their dead in "hanging coffins" on cliffsides, but their identity has long eluded researchers. Now, a new genetic study reveals that this ancient funeral tradition was carried out by ancestors of people who still live in the region today.

The researchers also found genetic links between the ancient people who practiced "hanging coffin" tradition — in which ancient wooden coffins were pegged onto exposed cliffs — and Neolithic ("New Stone Age") people who lived on the coasts of southern China and Southeast Asia.

The findings "provide valuable insights into the genetic, cultural, and historical roots of this burial custom," the researchers wrote in their study, which was published Nov. 20 in the journal Nature Communications.

Over the past 30 years, researchers have documented hundreds of hanging coffins throughout China and Southeast Asia, the researchers wrote in the study. Historical texts and oral traditions note that a small ethnic group known as the Bo people were behind the practice, but for the new study, researchers turned to genetics to solve the mystery once and for all.

In their investigation, the researchers analyzed the genetics of 11 individuals, some of whom lived more than 2,000 years ago, at four "hanging coffin" sites in China.

They supplemented their study by examining the remains of four individuals contained within ancient "log coffins" discovered in a cave in northwestern Thailand, the oldest of which dates to 2,300 years ago, and with 30 genomes from living people of Bo descent.

The results indicate that the "hanging coffin" people — and, therefore, the modern Bo people — had genetic links to groups who lived between 4,000 and 4,500 years ago, during the Neolithic period in this region from about 10,000 B.C. until about 2000 B.C.

"The genetic traces left behind provide compelling evidence of a shared origin and cultural continuity that transcends modern national boundaries," the researchers wrote in the study.

Hanging coffins

Dozens of "hanging coffin" sites are found throughout southern China and in Taiwan, where it was once a popular funerary style. However, funerals of this type stopped hundreds of years ago, during China's Ming dynasty between 1368 and 1644.

The researchers noted an early reference dates to the Yuan dynasty, from about 1279 to 1368. "Coffins set high are considered auspicious," a chronicler wrote."The higher they are, the more propitious they are for the dead. Furthermore, those whose coffins fell to the ground were considered more fortunate."

A few thousand people of Bo descent now live in China's southern Yunnan province, where they are categorized as part of the official Yi ethnic group, although their language and traditions are unique, according to the study.

But their ancestral culture was once much more widespread, encompassing regions that are now parts of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Taiwan, the researchers wrote. It seems the tradition of "hanging coffins" originated at least 3,400 years ago in the Wuyi Mountains of China's southeastern Fujian province.

Shared ancestry

The remains from the ancient "log coffins" in northwest Thailand also showed remarkable genetic similarities to the people interred in the "hanging coffins," the researchers found, indicating these peoples had shared ancestries.

In Thailand, the coffins were made by splitting the log of a tree in two lengthways and hollowing out one side while using the other side as a coffin lid. The coffins were then interred within a cave, often on wooden supports or on high rock ledges.

Those findings, as well as evidence from other archaeological sites throughout Asia, suggest the "hanging coffin" people were a branch of the ancient Tai-Kadai-speaking peoples who occupied much of southern China before the dominance of the Han ethnicity from about the first century B.C., the researchers reported.

According to Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, the ancient speakers of the Tai-Kadai languages (also known as the Kra-Dai languages) have given the name to the modern nation of Thailand and are the ancestors of millions of non-Han Chinese people, especially in the south of that country.

But the key finding of the study is the ancient identity of the "hanging coffin" people, the researchers wrote. Regional folklore referred to the Bo people "with names such as 'Subjugators of the Sky' and 'Sons of the Cliffs,' and even described [them] as being capable of flight," the team wrote in the study. Now, genetics firmly connects the Bo people to those buried in the hanging coffins.

"Approximately 600 years after the custom vanished from historical records, we found that the Bo people are the direct descendants of the Hanging Coffin custom's practitioners," the researchers wrote.

Humans were living alongside leopard cats in settlements in ancient China more than 3,500 years before domestic cats arrived, new research shows.

The findings reveal that people in the region had an enduring and complex relationship with such animals for thousands of years before domestic cats arrived with merchants along the Silk Road 1,400 years ago.

"Now, they [leopard cats] are our hidden neighbors, but thousands of years ago they lived in a closer relationship with people," study co-author Shu-Jin Luo, principal investigator at Peking University's School of Life Sciences in Beijing, China, told Live Science.

The work was published Thursday (Nov. 27) in the journal Cell Genomics.

Modern domestic cats (Felis catus), which are descended from African wildcats (Felis lybica), have adapted so successfully to living with humans that they are now found on every continent except for Antarctica.

Yet when and where they were originally domesticated is uncertain, with researchers previously suggesting the Levant 9,500 years ago and Egypt about 3,500 years ago. One of the main hypotheses is that they spread to Europe with Neolithic farmers about 2,500 years ago and then were eventually taken along the Silk Road through Eurasia into China.

However, in 2013, evidence of cats living alongside humans in western China thousands of years before that, in about 3300 B.C., came to light, casting doubt on that idea.

In 2022, analysis of the cat DNA revealed that these ancient cats in China weren't domestic cats but were leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), a small wild cat native to South, Southeast and East Asia.

Rather than clearing everything up, the result led to more questions: how long the leopard cats had lived alongside humans, when and how domestic cats reached China, and what drama played out when the domestic cats turned up and found that they weren't the only felid in town.

To find out more, researchers behind the new study used radiocarbon dating and DNA sequencing of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from samples of 22 ancient felid bones, which were unearthed in 14 archaeological sites across China dating from about 3500 B.C. to A.D. 1800. The scientists then compared their results with previously published ancient and modern cat genomes from around the world.

Of the 22 individuals, 14, dated to between about A.D. 730 and 1800, were domestic cats. The earliest domestic cat was excavated from Tongwan City, a key hub along the Silk Road in western China. Previous research identified another domestic cat farther west along the Silk Road in Kazakhstan, dated to between A.D. 775 and 940.

The earliest known depictions of domestic cats in China are painted motifs in two tombs in central China dating to about A.D. 820 and 830, and there is also a written account from about the same time of the empress presenting a pet cat to her ministers.

These records hint that domestic cats arrived in China via the Silk Road relatively recently, in about A.D. 700, and as a recent introduction were thought of as exotic pets and likely kept among the ancient Chinese elite, Luo told Live Science. The cats were often white, which was considered a sacred color in animals, she said.

All the earlier remains belonged to leopard cats, dating from between about 5,400 years ago to approximately A.D. 150.

When the researchers studied the cats, they realized that the close relationship between humans and leopard cats was not a transient and occasional thing but instead a shared history lasting for over 3,500 years, Luo said.

She added that leopard cats in ancient China may have once occupied a similar niche to domestic cats, entering a commensal relationship with humans by preying on small rodents in villages and fields.

"I think in ancient times, people would keep the cub and try to raise it so they can catch rodents. I don't think it's ever been fully domesticated, but it was definitely a more intimate relationship than with today's leopard cat," Luo said.

Eva-Maria Geigl, a paleogeneticist at the Jacques Monod Institute of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) who wasn't involved in the study, told Live Science the findings reflect the domestication process of cats around the Mediterranean. "It's a commensal relationship, taking advantage of the human niche and this was very welcomed by the Neolithic farmers as they really had to struggle with the rodents and with venomous animals," she told Live Science. "Such cats were not domesticated in the sense as we see it now — these couch potatoes — they were real wild cats still."

Records compiled between the fifth and third centuries B.C in China provide further evidence of this relationship, Luo said, indicating that people welcomed wild cats on their farms for pest control. This means leopard cats may have had a relationship with humans that lasted approximately 3,500 years, she said.

However, this relationship eventually ended, and there is a nearly 600-year gap between the last uncovered leopard cats and the earliest appearance of domestic cats in China.

Luo said this lack of cats coincides with the Period of Division (A.D. 220 to 589) after the collapse of the Han dynasty and before the rise of the Tang dynasty. It was a time of war and colder, drier conditions with declining agricultural yields, social unrest and a shrinking population. A similar temporary population decline was seen in black rats (Rattus rattus) in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire.

This means the leopard cats likely lost their hunting grounds, Luo said. When the Tang dynasty was established in A.D. 618, and agriculture and the human population rebounded, the leopard cats were no longer so welcome, because of the rise of keeping chickens.

Leopard cats still have a bad reputation for killing chickens, she said, so the cats would have become unwelcome animals. In southern parts of China, the leopard cat has the nickname the "chicken-killing tiger," Luo said.

Domestic cats took their place because they are cute, tame and generally catch smaller prey like mice and rats, not chickens, Luo suggested.

Geigl said the crucial shift that led domestic cats to gain widespread acceptance probably came in Egypt in the first millennium B.C., when people bred cats in temples and fed many cats together, and a genetic mutation led to behavioral change. "This is not normal behavior for a cat. A cat is a territorial solitary animal, just the opposite of what the Egyptians had," she noted.

Cat quiz: Can you get a purr-fect score?

Skull cups and skeleton masks have been discovered among a pile of 5,000-year-old discarded human bones in China, according to a new study.

The sculpted skulls were found jumbled up with pottery and animal remains, but the purpose of the macabre items has so far eluded experts.

These bones come from the Liangzhu culture, which included the earliest city in East Asia, according to the study, which was published Aug. 26 in the journal Scientific Reports. The collection of bones was carbon-dated to between 3000 and 2500 B.C., during China's Neolithic period.

Several Liangzhu cemeteries have been discovered in the past, but none of them had sculpted bones. Archaeologists recovered more than 50 individual human bones from canals and moats at five sites that show signs of being "worked" — split, perforated, polished or ground down with tools.

"The fact that many of the worked human bones were unfinished and discarded in canals suggests a lack of reverence toward the dead," study lead author Junmei Sawada, a biological anthropologist at Niigata University of Health and Welfare in Japan, told Live Science in an email.

There were no traces of the bones coming from people who died violent deaths, or signs that the skeletons had been pulled apart. That means the bones were likely processed after corpses decomposed, Sawada said.

The researchers discovered that the most common worked bone was the human skull. They found four adult skulls that had been cut or split horizontally to create "skull cups," and another four skulls that were split top-to-bottom to create a skeleton mask-like object.

Human skull cups have been previously recovered from high-status Liangzhu culture burials, the researchers wrote in the study, which suggests that they may have been made for religious or ritualistic purposes.

The mask-like facial skulls, however, have no parallel. And other types of discarded worked bone, including a skull with perforations on the back and a lower jaw that had been purposefully flattened, are also unique.

"We suspect that the emergence of urban society — and the resulting encounters with social 'others' beyond traditional communities — may hold the key to understanding this phenomenon," Sawada said.

Because many of the worked bones are unfinished, this suggests that human bones were not particularly rare or significantly valued, according to the study, which highlights a transformation in the perception of the dead during the swiftly urbanizing Liangzhu culture. When people no longer know all their neighbors or count them as kin, it may be easier to separate bones from the people they belonged to, the study authors suggested.

"The most interesting and unique thing about the findings is the fact that these worked human bones were essentially trash," Elizabeth Berger, a bioarchaeologist at the University of California, Riverside, told Live Science. Berger agreed with the researchers that the atypical treatment of the bones might be related to the increasing anonymity of an urban society.

The Liangzhu culture's practice of working human bones appeared suddenly, lasted for at least 200 years based on radiocarbon dates, and then disappeared, the researchers wrote.

"The people of Liangzhu came to see some human bodies as inert raw material," Berger said, "but what caused that to happen and why did it only last for a few centuries?"

Sawada said that future studies may help address these questions, particularly by helping reveal when and how people sourced the bones. These additional analyses could help the researchers tease out the meanings behind the practice and its relationship to changing social ties and kinship in Neolithic China.

Stone Age quiz: What do you know about the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic?

The world's oldest known human mummies were created by smoke-drying corpses 10,000 years ago in Southeast Asia and China, long before mummification became commonplace in Chile and Egypt, new research shows.

A study of dozens of ancient graves found in China, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia revealed that many skeletons that were found in a tight fetal position were treated by an extended period of smoke-drying over fire before being buried. The research was published Monday (Sept. 15) in the journal PNAS.

"Smoking likely carried spiritual, religious, or cultural meanings that went far beyond simply slowing decay," Hsiao-chun Hung, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University and lead author of the study, told Live Science in an email.

The researchers had been puzzled by the high number of burials in China and Southeast Asia from 4,000 to 12,000 years ago in which the skeletons were "hyperflexed," or contorted into unnatural tightly crouched positions. A similar skeleton found in Portugal in 2022 was interpreted as evidence of mummification because it was hyperflexed — likely bound up so the arms and legs could be moved beyond their natural limits as the body decomposed.

But in many of the ancient Southeast Asian burials, the researchers found, there was evidence of burning on the skeletons and not in the graves, which suggested some sort of ritual treatment of the body that included fire and smoke.

The researchers used X-ray diffraction, a nondestructive technique that allows scientists to investigate the internal microstructure of a material, and infrared spectroscopy to assess whether the bones had been exposed to heat. Many of the skeletons revealed evidence of low-intensity heating and discoloration from soot, rather than evidence of direct combustion such as a cremation. This suggests that a specialized mortuary practice involving the smoking of a corpse was likely practiced widely in pre-farming communities across southern China and Southeast Asia, the researchers wrote.

Related: 'Overkill' injuries on Bronze Age skeletons reveal fierce feuding in ancient China

Smoke-dried mummies are still being made today in parts of Southeast Asia, according to the researchers. They traveled to Papua, a province of Indonesia, in 2019 and observed the Dani and Pumo people creating mummies of their deceased ancestors by tightly binding the corpses, setting them over a fire, and smoking them until they turned entirely black. Drawing on these examples, the researchers concluded that ancient individuals were tightly bound after death and smoked for long periods over low-temperature fires.

Although the deceased individuals the researchers investigated in their study are only bones — with no skin, soft tissue or hair preserved — they consider the remains to be mummies because they were deliberately mummified through smoke-drying.

"The key difference from the mummies we typically imagine is that these ancient smoked bodies were not sealed in containers after the process, and therefore, their preservation generally lasted only a few decades to a few hundred years," Hung said. In the hot and humid climate of Southeast Asia, smoking was likely the most effective way of preserving the bodies, she said.

But how these ancient hunter-gatherers discovered that smoking a human body could preserve it "remains a fascinating and thought-provoking mystery," Hung said, and "we cannot say with certainty whether smoking the body was first conceived as a way to preserve it." It's possible that ancient people discovered smoking accidentally, as a by-product of some kind of ritual practice, or that they discovered smoking animal meat first and then applied it to dead humans.

"What is clear is that the practice prolonged the visible presence of the deceased, allowing ancestors to remain among the living in a tangible way, a poignant reflection of enduring human love, memory, and devotion," Hung said.

Two-layer model of migration

The mummies may also support a "two-layer" model of early migration into Southeast Asia. This model rests on the idea that ancient hunter-gatherers came as a wave of migrating people as early as 65,000 years ago and were distinct from the later Neolithic farmers and their burial traditions who did not arrive until 4,000 years ago. The ancient hunter-gatherers who used the smoked burial practices may have given rise to modern-day human populations in Southeast Asia, such as the Dani and Pumo people who still practice this form of funeral ritual.

Ivy Hui-Yuan Yeh, a biological anthropologist at Nanyang Technological University who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email the new findings support the two-layer model and "are consistent with the patterns of early human migration, distribution, and interaction in Asia."

If hyperflexed burials identified throughout Southeast Asia can be interpreted as smoked mummies, this suggests that "smoked mummification might have originated earlier, and been more widespread, than is currently identified in the archaeological record," the authors wrote in the study.

In fact, the process of smoke-drying a dead body may go back as far as the early expansion of Homo sapiens from Africa into Southeast Asia, and potentially as far back as 42,000 years ago, showcasing a "deep and enduring biological and cultural continuity," the researchers concluded.

Stone Age quiz: What do you know about the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic?

Women headed communities in eastern China about 4,500 years ago, a DNA analysis reveals.

While analyzing the ancient DNA of skeletons buried in Stone Age cemeteries in China, archaeologists discovered that the society was organized in an extremely rare way: Everyone belonged to one of two clans headed by women, and people were buried in their maternal clans for at least 10 generations.

At the archaeological site of Fujia in eastern China, researchers discovered two cemeteries roughly 330 feet (100 meters) apart flanking an ancient residential area. More than 500 burials were excavated and radiocarbon-dated to between 2750 and 2500 B.C.

In a study published June 4 in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers detailed their analysis of the DNA of 60 skeletons discovered at Fujia — 14 from the north cemetery and 46 from the south cemetery.

All 14 people from the north cemetery shared the same type of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is transmitted only from mother to child. This suggests that all of the people had the same maternal lineage, the researchers wrote in the study.

In the south cemetery, the researchers identified a different mitochondrial DNA lineage that was shared by 44 of the 46 people they tested. And when the researchers analyzed the Y chromosomes from the male skeletons, they found a high degree of diversity. Together, those findings suggest that the fathers of those buried in the cemeteries came from different lineages while the mothers were related.

"By integrating mtDNA and Y-chromosome analyses, we provide evidence that most individuals at Fujia, irrespective of their sex, were buried according to their maternal lineage," the researchers wrote in the study. In particular, both teenage and adult males were buried exclusively in their maternal clans, which "aligns with the common norms of a matrilineal society," according to the study.

Such findings of ancient societies organized along maternal lines are rare. Only three other studies have used DNA analysis to identify matrilineal communities: Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Celtic elites in southern Germany, and the Durotriges in Iron Age Britain. Similar practices, however, have been found in contemporary Southeast Asian matrilineal societies.

Related: 'Overkill' injuries on Bronze Age skeletons reveal fierce feuding in ancient China

Deeper analysis revealed high rates of "consanguinity" — marrying a blood relative — over the span of 10 generations. While many people likely married their second or third cousins, four individuals showed signs of mating with first cousins or closer relatives.

While such consanguinity may not be the preferred marriage pattern, it inevitably occurs when you have small, closed-off societies, the researchers wrote.

This "unique social organization" has not been found previously in Stone Age East Asian populations, according to the researchers.

"It is exciting to find a matrilineal society in Neolithic China," Yu Dong, an archaeologist at Shandong University who was not involved in the study, said in a statement.

The Fujia study provides key insights into the social and environmental conditions during the transition from smaller to more complex societies, the researchers wrote. Future DNA and archaeological research should help clarify matrilineal social organization in early human societies, they added.

Terracotta Army quiz: What do you know about the 'warriors' in the 2,200-year-old tomb of China's 1st emperor?

A 7,100-year-old skeleton from China has revealed a "ghost" lineage that scientists had only theorized about until now, a new study finds.

Researchers made the discovery while studying ancient skeletons that could help them map the diverse genetics of central China. The DNA of this ghost lineage individual, an Early Neolithic woman who was buried at the Xingyi archaeological site in southwestern China's Yunnan province, also holds clues to the origins of Tibetan people.

"There likely were more of her kind, but they just haven't been sampled yet," study co-author Qiaomei Fu, a paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, told Live Science in an email.

Fu and colleagues detailed their analysis of 127 human genomes from southwestern China in a study published May 29 in the journal Science. Most of the skeletons that they sampled were dated between 1,400 and 7,150 years ago and came from Yunnan province, which today has the highest ethnic and linguistic diversity in all of China.

"Ancient humans that lived in this region may be key to addressing several remaining questions on the prehistoric populations of East and Southeast Asia," the researchers wrote in the study. Those unanswered questions include the origins of people who live on the Tibetan Plateau, as previous studies have shown that Tibetans have northern East Asian ancestry along with a unique ghost ancestry that has mystified researchers.

The oldest person the researchers tested was found to be the missing link between Tibetans and the ghost' lineage.

Related: 'Mystery population' of human ancestors gave us 20% of our genes and may have boosted our brain function

Ghost hunters

At the Xingyi archaeological site in central Yunnan, dozens of burials were discovered that dated from the Neolithic period (7000 to 2000 B.C.) to the Bronze Age (2000 to 770 B.C.). Beneath all the other burials, archaeologists found a female skeleton with no grave goods. Carbon dating revealed she lived about 7,100 years ago, and isotope analysis of her diet showed she was probably a hunter-gatherer.

But genomic analysis of the woman, who has been named Xingyi_EN, was a surprise: her ancestry was not very similar to East and South Asians but was closer to a "deeply diverged" Asian population whose genes contributed to the ghost population only seen in modern Tibetans.

A "ghost population" refers to a group of people who were not previously known from skeletal remains but whose existence has been inferred through statistical analysis of ancient and modern DNA.

The mystery ancestry seen in Xingyi_EN does not match Neanderthals or Denisovans, both well-known ancient populations that did contribute some "ghost" DNA to humans. Rather, Xingyi_EN is evidence of a previously unknown lineage that diverged from other humans at least 40,000 years ago, according to the researchers, and has been named the Basal Asian Xingyi lineage.

For thousands of years, the lineage was separated from other human groups, meaning there was no admixture — interbreeding that would mix their DNA. "The possible isolation allowed this ancestry to persist without apparent admixture with other populations," Fu said.

But at some point, Xingyi_EN's relatives did interbreed with other groups of East Asian ancestry, mixing DNA. "The mixed population has lasted for quite a long time and contributed genes to some Tibetans today," Fu explained.

However, these results should be taken with caution, the researchers noted in the study. Given the genetic evidence comes from just a single person, further research is needed to fully understand the relationship between Xingyi_EN and the Tibetan ghost lineage.

Stone Age quiz: What do you know about the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic?

Dozens of skeletons buried in a 3,700-year-old cemetery in China show evidence of extreme trauma, suggesting that assailants felt a need to "overkill" their victims in bloodthirsty raids during the Bronze Age.

"One individual had 18 separate stab wounds to the cranial vault, which is obviously more than is needed to incapacitate or kill a person," Elizabeth Berger, a bioarchaeologist at the University of California, Riverside, said in a presentation April 24 at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Berger and colleagues presented new results — which are not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal — from their analysis of a cemetery called Mogou in Gansu Province, China. Part of the Bronze Age Qijia culture, Mogou was used for burials between 1750 and 1100 B.C. The large cemetery contains more than 1,600 graves with more than 5,000 people buried in them. These people lived a mostly agricultural lifestyle and exchanged metal and ceramic goods with other groups in the region.

In 2019, the researchers published a preliminary study of some of the Mogou skeletons, discovering a shockingly high frequency of trauma on adult skulls. Their new work, which focused on 348 skulls from adults and adolescents, also revealed a lot of trauma: 11.1% of the heads had evidence of unhealed injuries, such as stab wounds, blunt trauma and projectile damage.

What surprised the researchers, though, was their discovery that the majority of the adults with trauma had suffered multiple injuries rather than just one fatal blow; 55% of the adults had three or more cranial wounds.

"None of the other sites in the region has violence like this — it is unique," Berger told Live Science.

Related: 2,200-year-old grave in China contains 'Red Princess of the Silk Road' whose teeth were painted with a toxic substance

Males were more likely than females to have multiple-injuries on their crania, Berger said in the presentation, and several males had defensive injuries such as violent fractures of their hand bones. The researchers also found injuries to different parts of the skulls — such as the front and rear — that suggest the possibility of multiple attackers.

The results of intense violent interactions can be seen on numerous male skulls, including one with a large slash through his face showing sharp trauma, and one who had chop marks on his lower leg in addition to 18 separate stab wounds on his skull.

Why "overkill"?

The extreme nature of the violence inflicted on the skeletons, Berger said in the talk, suggests the idea of "overkill," a term used by forensic specialists to describe homicides in which a murderer does significantly more damage than necessary to kill their victim.

"I think it is a useful term," Berger said in the talk, "because there seemed to have been an emotional or psychological or performative aspect to the violence."

The researchers are still unsure of the reason for the Bronze Age violence. Warfare and raiding are two potential interpretations, particularly because the Qijia culture was situated at a kind of ancient crossroads between different groups of people.

But Berger believes the explanation might lie in an ancient blood feud, in which there was both a lethal intent but also a need "to destroy the social identity of the people who were being killed and cause psychological damage to the people who were not killed," she said in the talk.

"Violence is a cultural component of society," co-author Jenna Dittmar, a biological anthropologist at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Louisiana, told Live Science. "It's important that we go back and revisit previously published collections of skeletons," particularly to look for evidence of trauma, she said.

Additional research is ongoing at Mogou, the researchers said, including the study of animal bones, parasites and ancient DNA, with a goal of understanding what life was like during a key transition to a drier and cooler climate.

Terracotta Army quiz: What do you know about the 'warriors' in the 2,200-year-old tomb of China's 1st emperor?

An ancient mass grave excavated in southern Mongolia contains the bodies of dismembered Han warriors who fought the nomadic Xiongnu people in the second century B.C., a chemical analysis reveals.

The discovery adds new information about soldiers' lives and their gruesome deaths to a significant period in Chinese history.

"Execution by dismemberment was the most shameful form of execution," study co-author Alexey Kovalev, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Live Science in an email. "It was done by enemies so that the souls of these people could never be reborn."

Kovalev and a team of researchers studied more than two dozen complete and partial skeletons recovered from a mass grave at the archaeological site of Bayanbulag, a fortress built by the Han Empire in 104 B.C. just north of the Great Wall of China to protect against the encroaching Xiongnu Empire.

In a study published online last month in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the researchers used genomic and isotope analyses to figure out who was buried in the grave and where they came from.

Most of the bodies were piled up in a layer in the middle of a pit, the researchers found, which was initially the result of clay mining before it was turned into a makeshift mass grave. They identified a total of 17 skulls, all of which were from adult men. Most of the skeletons also showed signs of dismemberment, decapitation or amputation by sword, and at least two men were buried in a kneeling position.

Related: Ancient DNA reveals mysterious origins of the Huns who sacked Rome

Ancient DNA analysis of 14 of the skeletons revealed that the people were more genetically similar to present-day Han and northern Chinese people rather than to the Xiongnu and other ancient Siberians. Similarly, strontium isotope analysis — which measures variations in the element to reveal where a person grew up — of the skeletons showed that the men came to Bayanbulug from elsewhere, presumably as soldiers who directly participated in a battle.

The Han-Xiongnu Wars were fought over the course of two centuries (133 B.C. to A.D. 89). Battles between the Chinese civilization and the nomadic Xiongnu erupted on the Mongolian Plateau, and the northern Chinese built fortifications against the Xiongnu incursion, some of which were eventually incorporated into the Great Wall. But this is the first study to examine a grave of Han soldiers killed by the enemy and buried by their comrades, the researchers wrote.

"It is significant that all the small pieces of severed arms and legs, severed heads and other pieces of human bodies were collected for burial," Kovalev said. "According to the beliefs of the Chinese, it is necessary to bury the body of the deceased in full integrity. Those who buried these soldiers tried to make them feel good in the afterlife."

But not everyone could be buried intact. One man was decapitated, but his head was never found; presumably, it was taken away by the Xiongnu as proof of victory over the Han. "Who exactly killed the Han soldiers buried in the mass grave, we can only guess based on the context," Kovalev said.

Michael Rivera, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Hong Kong who was not involved in the study, told Live Science by email that the research impressively combines historical context with genetic, archaeological and isotopic analyses.

"The individuals in this burial were a diverse group of men from across Northeast Asia fighting in this conflict," Rivera said, and "we can see which side of the battle these individuals represented."

Further work needs to be done to fully understand the Bayanbulag mass grave, Kovalev said, particularly in the absence of information about funeral customs for ordinary people in this time period. "Now we are studying such a grave for the first time, and for the first time, we can reconstruct this ritual," he said.

In a first-of-its-kind discovery, archaeologists in China have unearthed the 2,200-year-old burial of a woman whose teeth had been painted with cinnabar, a toxic red substance.

Cinnabar is a bright-red mineral that's made of mercury and sulfur. Although it's been used since at least the ninth millennium B.C. in religious ceremonies, art, body paint and writing, this is the first time it's been found on human teeth, according to a study published Feb. 24 in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

"This is the first and only known case of cinnabar being used to stain teeth in antiquity and throughout the world," study senior author Qian Wang, a professor of biomedical sciences at the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry, told Live Science in an email.

Archaeologists found the unusual remains while excavating a cemetery in Turpan City, in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China. Based on the cultural objects found in various graves, the archaeologists concluded that the deceased were Gushi people, who followed the Subeixi culture. The Subeixi culture, a horse riding pastoralist culture in which women rode horses using saddles, flourished in the Turpan basin nearly 3,000 years ago.

The cemetery lay on the main route of the Silk Road. The site was dated to 2,200 to 2,050 years ago via radiocarbon dating, putting it in the time frame when the Silk Road was active with the trade of precious goods, including cinnabar.

Related: Earliest evidence of mercury poisoning in humans found in 5,000-year-old bones

One of the graves in the cemetery held the remains of four individuals, including a juvenile. However, one adult skeleton in the burial stood out because its teeth had traces of red pigment. An anatomical analysis revealed that this individual was female and had died between the ages of 20 and 25. Intrigued, researchers scraped off a sample of the red pigment and studied it with three different spectroscopy methods, which can reveal the makeup of chemicals in a sample.

The analysis revealed that the pigment was cinnabar, which had been mixed with an animal protein, perhaps egg yolk or egg white, so it could be painted on the woman's teeth.

The team nicknamed the woman the "Red Princess of the Silk Road" after the "Red Queen," a female Maya aristocrat from seventh-century Mexico whose corpse was found covered in cinnabar powder inside a limestone sarcophagus.

Red Princess of the Silk Road

The Red Princess's teeth are an anomaly, as the Xinjiang region is not a source of cinnabar. However, it was mined and traded along the Silk Road in antiquity, the researchers noted. China and Europe, the beginning and end of the Silk Road, were the two most significant cinnabar-producing areas along this trade route. So it's possible that the cinnabar from the Turpan cemetery came from Europe, West Asia or other areas within China, such as the southwest, which was historically mined for cinnabar.

Although it's unknown why the woman's teeth were painted red, Wang said it could be "related to cosmetic enhancements, social status, or shamanism, or some kind of combination." Other mummies with facial paintings and tattoos have been found in the region and even the newly excavated cemetery, he noted. So it's possible that the Red Princess had facial painting or tattoos, distinct hairstyles, head dressing and costumes to go with her red teeth, Wang said.

Study co-author Li Sun, a professor of geology at Collin College in Texas, emphasized the dangerous nature of cinnabar application. She pointed out that during the whole process, from the preparation of the red pigment to its application (probably multiple times) inside the mouth, the red-toothed woman and her helpers might have inhaled fine particles of cinnabar or mercury vapors. Inhaling these substances is associated with harmful neurological effects such as headaches, insomnia, tremors, and cognitive and motor dysfunction, according to the World Health Organization.

Surprisingly, Wang and his team didn't find any evidence of mercury poisoning in her bones even though there's circumstantial evidence that it was applied repeatedly during her lifetime. "No traces of mercury were detected in her mandible, ribs and femur," Wang said. "Perhaps it was not [on her teeth] long enough to allow the toxin to be concentrated to a detectable level."

Name: Jade burial suit

What it is: A type of ceremonial suit constructed of jade pieces and worn by royal members of China's Han dynasty (ruled from 206 B.C. to A.D. 220), as well as later rulers and elites, when they were buried.

Where it is from: China

When it was made: Approximately 2,000 years ago

Related: Babylonian Map of the World: The oldest known map of the ancient world

What it tells us about the past: Each burial suit was made using thousands of uniquely shaped pieces of jade, which artisans stitched together using gold thread. The masterfully crafted suits were "built as armor" to protect the deceased in the afterlife and to "prevent mortal decay," according to UNESCO. It appears ancient Han royalty also believed the suits protected the soul.

"The ensemble of jades protected the body and the soul in their entirety, enabling the deceased to attain immortality," according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

While ancient texts had referenced the suits, it wasn't until 1968 that archaeologists found real-life examples when they discovered two in Hebei province in northeastern China. The suits were used in the burials of Han dynasty ruler Liu Sheng, the Prince of Zhongshan, and his wife, Princess Dou Wan.

In addition to the armor, both individuals were found with jade pieces covering their eyes and plugs in their ears and other bodily orifices. Sheng's suit contained an incredible 2,498 individual pieces of jade. Researchers estimate it would have taken 10 years to create his suit, UNESCO reported.

Researchers also discovered a set of rules titled "The Book of Later Han," which describes in detail how the suits were made and how different types of thread should be used depending on a person's social status. For example, an emperor's suit used only gold thread, whereas lower-ranking elites' suits were crafted with silk thread.

However, the elaborate burial practice was halted in the 500s during the reign of Emperor Wen of Western Wei, since the highly valued suits were being targeted by looters.

Archaeologists in China have discovered the 1,800-year-old tombs of a wealthy family, but soon realized that of the three lavish burials, only one had escaped the attention of grave robbers. 

Although the two looted tombs are now in poor condition, the other tomb is untouched and contains more than 70 artifacts, including an iron sword and a bronze mirror, placed there as grave offerings.

The burials, which date to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) were found during excavation at Dazhuangzi Village in the southern part of Rizhao, a coastal city in Shandong province about 360 miles (580 kilometers) southeast of Beijing.

According to a translated statement from China's Institute of Archaeology, the tombs were under a burial mound at a local park that had been badly damaged by farming in the past, and the excavations there were carried out before the park was expanded.

Two people had been buried in each of the three tombs, in coffins made of wood; and all three had sloping, paved "tomb roads" leading down to them. One of the looted tombs and the unlooted tomb contain inscriptions with the surname "Huan," which implies the tomb complex belonged to the same wealthy family, the statement noted. 

Related: Ancient Chinese burials with swords and chariot cast light on violent 'Warring States' period

Ancient tombs

The untouched tomb is in the shape of a "knife handle" about 22 feet (6.7 meters) long; and its central chamber was filled with green clay sometime after the two coffins and grave goods were placed there.

The coffins could supposedly "communicate" through ornamental windows and doors in a wooden partition between them; and archaeologists think this "residential" style implies that the people buried there were a husband and wife, but probably buried at different times.

Both sets of human bones inside the coffins have decayed, but the grave goods include a bronze mirror; an iron sword; glazed pottery vessels, some with wooden lids; stacks of lacquerware cups; and a copper seal for documents in the shape of a turtle.

The archaeologist said one of the coffins was exquisitely crafted, and that a trolley or carriage for moving it on two wooden rollers was beneath it — an uncommon find.

All three tombs at Rizhao were important discoveries, the statement said; but the untouched tomb, in particular, will help reveal more about burial practices in Shandong during the Han dynasty.

Han dynasty

Yanlong Guo, an art historian at Smith College in Massachusetts who wasn't involved in the discoveries, told Live Science that one of the coffins at Dazhuangzi had been made from the trunk of a single tree.

It is rare for this type of coffin to have survived from the Han dynasty, he said in an email.

"Han tree-trunk coffins have only occasionally been found in southern China," he said. But "this type of coffin may have originated from the tradition of the Yue people active in the lower Yangzi River Valley."

Some of the material remains, including the green clay, lacquerware and glazed pottery, indicated a stronger connection with the southern Chu culture than with the central Han regions to the west of present-day Shandong, he said.

Hundreds of Han tombs had recently been discovered in the coastal region of China's Shandong Peninsula, but few archaeological reports of them had been published, he said.

"As more information becomes available and studied, I believe scholars will gain a deeper understanding of the regional culture of the coastal periphery of the Han Empire," Guo said.

A 2,200-year-old ornate tomb in eastern China may belong to the ruler of the Chu state, one of the seven powerful kingdoms that vied for supremacy during China's formative Warring States period, an expert told Live Science.

The tomb is the largest and most complex ever found from the Chu state and would shed more light on the conditions of the time, according to officials with China's National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) who were quoted by the official state news agency Xinhua.

Archaeologists have spent the past four years excavating the tomb at Wuwangdun, which is located near the city of Huainan in China's Anhui province. According to Xinhua, archaeologists have unearthed more than 1,000 cultural relics at the site — including lacquered artifacts, bronze ritual vessels and musical instruments — as well as a central coffin inscribed with more than 1,000 written characters.

Radiocarbon dating and other analyses suggest the tomb dates to the late stage of the Chu state in about 220 B.C., when it was coming under the influence of the Qin state.

Related: 1,400-year-old tomb of emperor in China reveals evidence of royal power struggle among brothers and a warlord

Qin was ultimately the victor among the seven Warring States that followed China's royal Zhou dynasty — Qin, Han, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Chu and Yan — and its subsequent unification of the country is officially regarded as the beginning of modern China. 

Vast tomb

The tomb's date corresponds to a critical period before the feudal Chu system disintegrated, Xicheng Gong, an archaeologist with the Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute who's leading the excavations, told Xinhua.

"The findings can provide an overall picture of the political, economic, cultural, technological and social conditions of the Chu state," Gong said, adding that they could also improve archaeologists' understanding of Chu's evolution into part of a unified China.

Zhiguo Zhang, a researcher involved in the excavations at China's National Center for Archaeology (part of the NCHA), said the archaeologists worked within a special low-oxygen laboratory built at the site to preserve the unearthed relics.

In addition to traditional recording measures, the team used digital scanning, surveying and mapping to create a precise 3D model of the tomb's layer, he said, while the characters written on the coffin's lid were recorded with infrared imaging technology.

He said the team has excavated only one-third of the tomb and has not yet determined who was buried there.

"The excavation and protection work at the Wuwangdun tomb will be carried out simultaneously, and various scientific and technological measures will be used so that the archaeological value of the tomb will be clearly and comprehensively presented," he told Xinhua.

Chu king

The identity of the person buried in the tomb may not be a complete mystery, however; since the Xinhua report was published, an expert has told Live Science that the tomb is probably that of the king of the feudal Chu state.

Margarete Prüch, an archaeologist and art historian at Heidelberg University in Germany who wasn't involved in the excavations, said she had recently returned from a trip to Korea where she'd discussed the tomb with academics there.

In 202 B.C. the Chu territories had come under the rule of the Han dynasty, the successors to the Qin dynasty; and in 194 B.C. another Han vassal state, Yan, had seized control of the northern part of Korea. So Chinese tombs from this time are very significant in Korea.

Prüch told Live Science she'd been told the tomb was probably that of the Chu king Kaolie, who ruled from 262 to 238 B.C.

"It is indeed one of the most complete and largest tombs of the Chu culture so far," she said. "The tomb structure and burial objects are outstanding and will bring new and fresh approaches to the field."

The tomb stands out for its many "wonderful" lacquer items, she added, especially the lacquered head sculptures, which had never been found in a Chinese tomb.

Archaeologists in China have unearthed a mysterious set of rectangular wooden pieces linked to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an exceptionally well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country.

Each of the 23 wooden slips is about an inch (2.5 centimeters) wide and 4 inches (10 cm) long and displays a Chinese character related to the Tiangan Dizhi, or "Ten Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches" — a traditional Chinese astronomical calendar established during the Shang dynasty, which ruled from about 1600 B.C. to about 1045 B.C.

Archaeologists think one of the slips may have represented whatever was the current year and that the other 22 slips could have been used to specify any particular year in the ancient calendar, according to a translation of a story on the China News website, an agency run by the Chinese government.

Circular perforations at the edges of each slip suggest they were once tied together.

However, it's not yet clear how the set of calendrical wooden slips would have functioned, an expert told Live Science.

This is the first time such objects have been found in an ancient tomb, although the practice of writing characters on strips of wood or bamboo was common in China before the invention of paper.

Related: 1,400-year-old tomb of emperor in China reveals evidence of royal power struggle among brothers and a warlord

Golden age

The wooden slips and many other artifacts were discovered earlier this year in a tomb in the Wulong district, about 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) southwest of Beijing, archaeologists from the Chongqing municipal government told the Global Times — which is also run by the Chinese government.

The tomb contains a written list of all the burial items, which also states that it was built in 193 B.C. That places the tomb during the time of the Western Han dynasty, which ruled much of China from 206 B.C. to A.D. 9; it was followed by the Eastern Han dynasty, which ruled until A.D. 220, and together they are considered a "golden age" when many Chinese traditions were established.

Archaeologist Wang Meng said the tomb was the best-preserved wooden-chamber tomb ever found in China's southwest.

Project leader Huang Wei told the Global Times that the tomb also contained more than 600 cultural artifacts, including lacquerware bowls, boxes, jars and plates. It also held bamboo utensils and musical pipes, spears and cooking tripods made from copper, wooden figurines, as well as pottery and bronze objects.

Calendar mystery

Astronomer Ed Krupp, the director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and author of "Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilizations" (Dover, 2003), who was not involved in the Wulong discovery,  told Live Science that while the Tiangan Dizhi calendar is mainstream — it is used in Chinese astrology, for example — the wooden slips found in the Wulong tomb were unusual.

"The wooden slips with calendric notations are significant as the first and only known example of that kind of inscription on that kind of object," he said in an email.

But it doesn't appear that the set of wooden slips could have functioned as a calendar; instead, it seems they could have been used to reference any year of the 60-year calendrical cycle, he said.

"If so, they are not 'books,' but objects used to highlight a particular year," he said. He noted the similarity to a practice followed at a Taoist temple in the Chinese city of Suzhou, where each year in the cycle is represented by a statue that is specially marked when it becomes current.

Krupp said that the finds from the Wulong tomb showed that a person of high status had been buried there. "The artifacts interred with the deceased are numerous and very, very fine," he said. "This is rich, expensive material."

Elite women, perhaps princesses, played a crucial role in holding the Xiongnu, one of the first nomadic empires of the eastern Eurasian Steppe, together, a new study suggests.

The Xiongnu, who may have been among the ancient ancestors of the Mongols, formed a confederation of nomadic peoples who controlled much of Central Asia, from present-day Kazakhstan to Mongolia, from about the second century B.C. until the first century A.D. 

But little is known about them, except for some Chinese records and recent genetic studies based on ancient DNA from their buried remains, said Bryan Miller, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan. 

"This was an empire with extreme genetic diversity," he told Live Science. "To call oneself Xiongnu at that time was to call oneself a participant in this massive empire."

Miller is one of the lead authors of a new study exploring the genetics of remains found in Xiongnu graves in the foothills of the southern Altai Mountains, near what would have been the imperial frontier. The research was published in the journal Science Advances on April 14.

Related: Mysterious East Asians vanished during the ice age. This group replaced them.

Nomad princesses

DNA testing at two Xiongnu cemeteries showed that the people buried in the largest tombs were women who were closely related to people from the heartlands of the Xiongnu Empire — roughly in the middle of modern Mongolia — whose genetics were already known. 

The women were buried with rich grave goods, including ornamental gold disks, pieces of bronze chariots and horse gear. But the ancient DNA from the remains in the smaller tombs showed a much wider genetic diversity, suggesting those people often came from far-flung regions of the empire — from the Black Sea region to Eastern Mongolia, Miller said.

This finding suggests that the elite families who controlled the Xiongnu Empire probably sent their women to the frontiers in order to cement political alliances with local elites. Miller noted that the most special burials were given only to these elite women, who seem to have been involved in the politics of relatively remote regions.

"They are representatives of the imperial clan that ruled the empire," he said. "You've got these marriage alliances spanning the whole empire, even in these local communities."

Miller said these elite women maintained their high status throughout their lives, which was reflected in their special burials. That suggested they were active participants in the plan, and not just the tools of their male relatives. "They really played an active role," he said. "They were part of it."

Ancient empire

The main source of information about the Xiongnu comes from Chinese records, who saw them as foreign enemies along China's northern and western borders.

Indeed, the name Xiongnu is thought to be a pejorative term, because its Chinese characters also spell "fierce slave." 

Miller said that some of the earliest fortifications of what later became the Great Wall of China were built in an attempt to stop Xiongnu raids into Chinese lands. "It was a way to control that very vibrant frontier," he said. 

Eventually, the Xiongnu were divided by civil wars. Some groups became tributaries of Chinese states, while some were conquered by other steppe peoples.

Archaeologist Ursula Brosseder of the University of Bonn in Germany, who wasn't involved in the research, said the new study showed how the investigation of ancient DNA was moving away from the large-scale genetics of populations and toward the genetics of particular localities.

"The field of ancient genetics is now shifting," she told Live Science. "So far, most of the studies we have seen concerned the genetics of population structures, such as when large migrations happened. But with this study, we've just zoomed into one society and used genetics as a tool to get a better understanding of how that society worked," she said.

In All About History issue 116, on sale now, you will learn how some of the most notorious outlaws in the Caribbean banded together to form their own community, known by many as the Republic of Pirates. 

With famous names like Blackbeard and Anne Bonny among their number, this was one of the most extraordinary chapters in the story of privateers and criminals operating in the Bahamas and beyond.

Angus Konstam, naval and maritime historian, is your guide to this amazing story —he unravels the origins of pirating in the region, how different captains came to work together and whether this brief collaboration can be called a Pirate Republic at all.

Also in All About History 116, find out what would have happened with Operation Valkyrie had succeeded in killing Adolf Hitler, why Da Vinci and Michelangelo were Renaissance rivals, why Empress Matilda is England's lost queen and why there's more science in alchemy than you might think.

Related: Read a free issues of All About History

You can also get an introduction to Ancient China, find out why Nero was possibly more desperate than despot and learn why German U-Boats were terrifying, but not as effective in WWII as we first thought. 

The lost Pirate Republic

During the early 18th century a major increase in piratical attacks occurred. It disrupted maritime trade in American waters and markedly drove up marine insurance rates. The first significant attacks began around 1714, and they continued for the best part of a decade. 

The economic impact was just part of the problem — this upsurge of piracy appeared to be self-perpetuating. Often, on ships captured by pirates some of the crew would volunteer to join the ranks of their assailants. These recruits increased the scale of the pirate problem, and soon the impact of piracy was being felt in other regions, such as off the West African coast and the Indian Ocean. 

While this was devastating enough for the shipping industry in both Europe and the Americas, it also began to concern those in power. In a growing number of instances, captains whose ships had been attacked reported that the pirates had abused them, both physically and verbally, while accusing them of cruelty to their crew and to seamen in general. 

While this resentment towards authority was primarily directed at the captains, it was clear that it extended to national governments and even civilised society as a whole. It almost seemed as if once a seaman had become a pirate, he had rejected the very fabric of contemporary social order. 

This, of course, posed a threat to the existing establishment, both in Europe and its colonies. It also suggested that the pirate scourge had a radical element to it. 

Read more in All About History 116.

Secrets of alchemy

The dream of turning metal into gold is one that has obsessed man for centuries. The name of this mythical process is alchemy and it’s a word that inspires thoughts of medieval magic and the dark arts. 

To quote the scientist and scholar Lawrence Principe in his seminal work "The Secrets of Alchemy": "The very word conjures up vivid images of the hidden, the mysterious and the arcane, of dark laboratories and wizard-like figures bent over glowing fires and bubbling cauldrons." 

Yet from the ancient world through to the medieval period and into the 20th century alchemy was a very real art, practised the world over. So much more than simply being another quest for gold, it was a complex form of speculative thought that also held promises of eternal youth. 

The history of alchemy is complex, blurring the lines between chemistry, esoteric ramblings and bizarre philosophy. Here we hope to offer a tantalising glimpse into another realm, digging beneath the surface to unearth at least a few of its secrets. 

We'll reveal the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone, explain the scientific impact of this ancient art and explore the life of the real Nicolas Flamel, among other wonders. 

Unlock more of the secrets of alchemy in All About History 116.   

Da Vinci versus Michelangelo

The "Mona Lisa", with her slight smile and the statue of "David" with his impressive physique are two of the most instantly recognisable works of art. Their reputation stretches beyond that of the early modern period and makes them arguably the two most famous artworks in the entire world. It is striking to think that these two pieces were completed in roughly the same period ("Mona Lisa" between 1503-19 and "David" between 1501-04) by two men who most likely knew each other personally and, if not, certainly knew each other’s reputation:  Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. 

These towering figures of the Italian Renaissance developed a bitter rivalry, as they did with other artists in the same period such as Raphael, which may have helped define each artist’s work. This rivalry would see a direct artistic competition between the two when, in the early 16th century, both were commissioned to complete contrasting frescoes in the Renaissance’s equivalent of the 'Thrilla in Manilla'. But was the rivalry between Leonardo and Michelangelo actually that unusual? Or was it necessary competition in a world where artists relied on wealthy patrons to fund the creation of their masterpieces?

Read the rest of this fascinating story in All About History 116.

Archaeologists have discovered six sacrificial pits containing about 500 artifacts, including gold and bronze masks, in the ancient Chinese city of Sanxingdui, according to news reports.

The site is located about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) southwest of Beijing, Xinhua, China's state-run press agency, reported. 

The artifacts date back around 3,000 years, to a time when the ancient kingdom of Shu ruled this part of China. In addition to the masks, the archaeologists uncovered bronze artifacts with dragon and cow engravings, miniature ivory sculptures, silk, carbonized rice (rice that has turned into carbon) and tree seeds, Xinhua reported.

Related: Photos: Treasures from 800-year-old tombs in China

"Surprisingly, we have unearthed some never-heard-of-before bronze ware items," Lei Yu, an archaeologist with the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, told Xinhua. "For instance, some large and delicate bronze ware items have bizarre-looking dragon or cow designs on them."

The researchers haven't turned up any human remains in the pits, and they don't know what function the pits may have served. 

Even so, the discovery of the six pits may provide clues about the rituals the people of the Shu kingdom practiced at that time. 

Human burials?

A local farmer in Guanghan accidentally discovered the Sanxingdui site in 1929, when he came across a pit of jade artifacts. But the site didn't gain fame among archaeologists until 1986, when they found two 3,200-year-old pits containing thousands of artifacts. 

Those pits, which are located next to the newfound ones, also were devoid of human remains, and scholars have debated what the pits were used for, Chen Shen, a senior curator of Chinese art and culture at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, wrote in his book "Anyang and Sanxingdui: Unveiling the Mysteries of Ancient Chinese Civilizations" (Royal Ontario Museum, 2002).  

"Some believe the pits to be a kind of burial, but without human skeletons; the body might have been reduced to ash as a result of a ritual burning ceremony," Shen wrote in his book. Another possibility is that the pits may be related to political changes that were going on in the region; Shen noted that people were slowly abandoning the site of Sanxingdui around 3,000 years ago. While the site slowly became abandoned, the Shu kingdom lived on until it was conquered by another state called Qin in 316 B.C. 

Excavation of the six newly discovered pits and analysis of the artifacts found in them are ongoing. Few textual sources discussing what happened at that time survive, making it more challenging to determine what the pits were used for. 

Originally published on Live Science.

A floral porcelain bowl, purchased for $35 at a yard sale in Connecticut last year, just sold for over $700,000 at a Sotheby's auction.

Only after having the bowl evaluated by experts at Sotheby's did the yard-sale-goer discover that he had casually bought a rare 15th-century Chinese bowl. There are only six other companion bowls like this one known to exist around the world, Live Science previously reported.

The experts estimated the bowl, which is shaped like a lotus bud and painted with cobalt-blue floral patterns, to be worth between $300,000 and $500,000. But on Wednesday (March 17), after a battle between four bidders at the Sotheby's Important Chinese Art auction in New York, the bowl sold for $721,800, more than 20,000 times its asking price at the yard sale.

Related: Gallery: Ancient Chinese warriors protect secret tomb

The bowl dates back to the reign of the Ming dynasty's third emperor, known as the Yongle Emperor, who ruled from 1403 to 1424. The Yongle court, for which the bowl was made, brought in a new style of porcelain to China, according to the previous Live Science report. 

It was "a style immediately recognizable, never surpassed, and defining the craft still in the eighteenth century," according to the Sotheby's listing for the bowl.

"With more than five centuries of history, the bowl has an incredible story," from the Yongle court to present-day Connecticut to the Sotheby's York Avenue salesroom, Angela McAteer, the Sotheby’s Head of Chinese Works of Art Department in New York, said in a statement. "Upon viewing the bowl for the first time, our team immediately recognized the quality of this undisputed gem, and it is a reminder that precious works of art remain hidden in plain sight just waiting to be found."

Originally published on Live Science.

A series of 2,200-year-old Chinese texts, written on silk and found buried in ancient tombs, contain the oldest surviving anatomical atlas, scientists say. 

The texts were discovered in the 1970s within tombs at the site of Mawangdui in south-central China. The tombs belonged to Marquis Dai, his wife Lady Dai and their son. The texts are challenging to understand, and they use the term "meridian" to refer to parts of the human body. In a paper recently published Sept. 1 in the journal The Anatomical Record, a research team led by Vivien Shaw, an anatomy lecturer at Bangor University in Wales in the United Kingdom, argues that these texts "are the oldest surviving anatomical atlas in the world."

Additionally the texts "both predate and inform the later acupuncture texts, which have been the foundation for acupuncture practice in the subsequent two millennia," the researchers wrote in the study. The find "challenges the widespread belief that there is no scientific foundation for the 'anatomy of acupuncture,' by showing that the earliest physicians writing about acupuncture were in fact writing about the physical body," they added.

Related: In photos: 1,500-year-old tomb of a Chinese woman named Farong

Challenging texts

The texts, which are written in Chinese characters, are difficult to understand. "The skills necessary to interpret them are diverse, requiring the researcher firstly to read the original Chinese, and secondly to perform the anatomical investigations that allow a re-viewing of the structures that the texts refer to," the researchers wrote in the paper. 

But if the texts are read carefully, it can be seen that the "meridians" refer to parts of the human body. For example, the text says (in translation) that one meridian starts "in the center of the palm, goes along the forearm between the two bones following straight along the tendons, travels below the sinew into the bicep, to the armpit, and connects with the heart." The researchers contend that this description of a "meridian" actually refers to the path of the ulnar artery, the main blood vessel of the forearm. 

Another example from the ancient text describes a "meridian" in the foot that "starts at the big toe and runs along the medial surface of the leg and thigh. Connects at the ankle, knee, and thigh. It travels along the adductors of the thigh, and covers the abdomen." This "meridian" actually describes the "pathway of the long saphenous vein," the conduit that carries blood from the legs back to the heart, the researchers wrote. 

The team concludes that the texts "represent the earliest surviving anatomical atlas, designed to provide a concise description of the human body for students and practitioners of medicine in ancient China." 

Although the human body and ancestral remains were considered sacred in ancient China, the remains of law breakers were not always given this honor. The researchers believe that ancient Chinese medical researchers dissected the corpses of prisoners to help them understand human anatomy. For instance, the Han Shu (Book of Han), a tome that covers the history of the Han Dynasty, records the dissection of the criminal Wang Sun-Qing in A.D. 16, the researchers noted in the study.

Until now, the oldest known anatomical atlas of the human body was thought to be from Greece, done by ancient Greek physicians such as Herophilus (335–280 B.C.) and Erasistratus (304-c.250 B.C.) however most of their texts have been lost and are known only from what other ancient writers wrote about them. As a result, the Chinese texts are the earliest surviving anatomical atlas, the researchers said. 

Related: Photos: Tiny looms Found in Chinese tomb

Vivienne Lo, a senior lecturer and convenor of University College London’s China Centre for Health and Humanity who is not affiliated with the research, said that she is hesitant to use the word "atlas" to describe these texts, and thinks that "map" or "chart" is a more appropriate term. Lo said that the term "atlas" was a term that was used more during the 17th and 18th centuries and doesn't seem appropriate to apply to a 2,200 year-old text. Lo also noted that some of the finds discussed in the paper — such as the fact that prisoners were dissected to provide anatomical information — have been published by other researchers before.

TJ Hinrichs, a history professor at Cornell University who has conducted research into ancient Chinese medicine but is not affiliated with this research, also did not think that "anatomical atlas" was an appropriate term to describe these texts. Live Science has reached out to other experts not affiliated with the research, however most were not able to reply at time of publication. 

Originally published on Live Science.

Inside a 2,100-year-old pit in China, archaeologists have discovered a miniature army of sorts: carefully arranged chariots and mini statues of cavalry, watchtowers, infantry and musicians.

They look like a miniaturized version of the Terracotta Army — a collection of chariots and life-size sculptures of soldiers, horses, entertainers and civil officials — that was constructed for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.

Based on the design of the newfound artifacts, archaeologists believe that the pit was created about 2,100 years ago, or about a century after the construction of the Terracotta Army. [See Photos of the Mini-Warriors Discovered in China]

The southern part of the pit is filled with formations of cavalry and chariots, along with models of watchtowers that stand 55 inches (140 centimeters) high. At the pit's center, about 300 infantrymen stand alert in a square formation, while the northern part of the pit has a model of a theatrical pavilion holding small sculptures of musicians.

"The form and scale of the pit suggest that it accompanies a large burial site," wrote archaeologists in a paper published recently in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics. The "vehicles, cavalry and infantry in square formation were reserved for burials of the monarchs or meritorious officials or princes," the archaeologists wrote.

The soldiers and cavalry in the newly discovered army are much smaller than those in the Terracotta Army. Based on the date, size and location of the pit, archaeologists believe that this newly discovered army may have been built for Liu Hong, a prince of Qi (a part of China), who was the son of Emperor Wu (reign 141–87 B.C.).

Hong was based in Linzi, a Chinese city near the newly discovered pit; he died in 110 B.C. "Textual sources record that Liu Hong was installed as the prince of Qi when he was quite young, and he unfortunately died early, without any heir," archaeologists wrote in the journal article. Shortly before Hong's death, according to writings by ancient historian Ban Gu, a comet appeared in the sky over China.

Where is the tomb?

If the pit and its ceramic army were meant to protect Liu Hong, or another senior royal family member, in the afterlife, then a tomb should be located nearby, the archaeologists wrote. "There are possibly architectural remains or a path leading from the pit, but there is no way to explore the main burial chamber," the researchers wrote, noting that the tomb itself may have been destroyed. 

Older residents in the area have reported descriptions of a prominent earthen mound, some 13 feet (4 meters) high, near the pit, the study authors wrote. "Sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, workers removed the earth and flattened the area in order to widen the Jiaonan-Jinan Railway."

The reports are corroborated by an aerial photograph taken in 1938 by the Japanese Air Force (at that time, Japan was at war with China). This picture shows a possible burial mound near the railway, the archaeologists noted.

From life size to mini-warriors

The Terracotta Army pits found beside the tomb of the first emperor of China are the only known examples of an army of life-size ceramic soldiers in China. Shortly after the first emperor's 210 B.C. death, his dynasty, known as the Qin dynasty, collapsed and a new dynasty, known as the Han, took over China. [Photos: Army of Terracotta Warriors Protects Secret Tomb in China]

Some of the Han dynasty rulers continued to build pits with armies of ceramic soldiers for their burials, but the soldiers were considerably smaller. For instance, the infantry sculptures in the newly discovered pit are between 9 and 12 inches (22 and 31 cm) tall, nowhere near the heights of the life-size soldiers buried near the tomb of the first emperor.

The pit, along with several other archaeological sites, was discovered in the winter of 2007 during construction work. After its discovery, the pit was excavated by the Cultural Relics Agency of Linzi District of Zibo city.

After excavation was complete, archaeologists from this agency analyzed the artifacts, working with researchers from the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. A report on the pit was first published, in Chinese, in 2016, in the journal Wenwu. This report was recently translated into English and published in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.

• In Photos: China's Terracotta Warriors Inspired by Greek Art
• How One Chinese Emperor Changed the World
• In Photos: Treasures from 800-Year-Old Tombs in China

Originally published on Live Science.

About 2,300 years ago, the grandmother of China's first emperor received an elaborate burial outfitted with a macabre menagerie of buried animals — notably, the remains of an ancient, extinct gibbon that was previously unknown to science, a new study finds.

The discovery is remarkable because the ape — a gibbon the scientists named Junzi imperialis — is the first ape on record to go extinct since the last ice age, the researchers said.

Human activity and environmental factors likely played a role in J. imperialis' demise, said study co-researcher Helen Chatterjee, a professor of biology at University College London. [In Photos: Treasures from 800-Year-Old Tombs in China]

"Our research has shown that in the past, gibbons had a much wider, including a more northerly, distribution across China — but over time, as China has become more developed and humans have expanded, the distribution of gibbons has in turn been dramatically reduced," Chatterjee told Live Science in an email. "Today, gibbons are restricted to the very far south of China."

Because of human-induced (or "anthropogenic") factors, such as building developments, which reduce the size of gibbons' habitat; hunting; and poaching, "gibbons are now one of the rarest primates on Earth," said Chatterjee, who also sits on the executive committee of the Gibbon Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Royal discovery

In 2004, archaeologists excavated the tomb attributed to Lady Xia, the grandmother of the emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 B.C. to 210 B.C.), in the Shaanxi province of central China. But the tomb contained more than Lady Xia's burial; it also included 12 pits filled with animal remains, including the skeletons of a leopard (Panthera pardus), a Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), an Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), a crane (Grus), domesticated mammals, birds and, surprisingly, a mysterious gibbon.

There are 20 species of gibbons and siamangs (large, mostly tree-dwelling gibbons) known to science, including six living species that are native to China. But the newfound gibbon's skull, jaw and teeth didn't look like any of these creatures, so the scientists gave it a new genus and species name.

They dubbed the new genus Junzi, the Chinese term for "gentleman," because gibbons were perceived to be noble throughout Chinese history, the researchers wrote. In fact, gibbons were through to channel considerable amounts of chi (energy), and often appeared in ancient Chinese poems, stories and art, Chatterjee noted.

During its lifetime, J. imperialis probably looked similar to today's gibbons. It probably weighed about 13 lbs. (6 kilograms) and ate a mix of fruits and leaves, as well as the occasional insect or bird's egg, Chatterjee said. However, it's anyone's guess what color fur it had, or how its singing voice sounded.

"Sadly, these features don't preserve, so we can't predict what it would have looked or sounded like," Chatterjee said. "But, based on what we know about living gibbons, we see most variation in facial fur color and patterns, and beautiful singing voices which are species-specific."

Ancient pet?

It's common to find the remains of exotic animals in ancient Chinese burial sites, but "this is the only gibbon we know of in a site that is so old," Chatterjee said. [Photos: See Gorillas and Chimpanzees Swinging from Trees]

It's unclear whether Lady Xia kept this particular gibbon as a pet, Chatterjee added. These days, gibbon populations are plummeting, in part because some people decide to keep them as pets, sometimes even removing the ape's large canine teeth because the animals can become aggressive when they're kept in small cages, Chatterjee said.

That's bad news for the gibbons — including the world's rarest primate, the Hainan black crested gibbon (Hainan gibbon), of which there are just 26 individuals remaining on the Chinese island province of Hainan, she said.

Perhaps J. imperialis' story will prompt more protections for endangered gibbons, Chatterjee said. After all, historical records indicate that this enigmatic gibbon went extinct as recently as 300 years ago, the researchers said.

"The Junzi find is a sobering lesson in the devastating effects that humans can have on the natural world," Chatterjee said. "Nature cannot keep up, which is why many species — including several gibbon species — are faced with extinction."

The study was published online today (June 21) in the journal Science.

Original article on Live Science.

More than 1,700 years ago, ancient farmers in China transformed one of Earth's driest deserts into farmland, possibly by using ancient knowledge of irrigation passed along by Silk Road travelers, a new study finds.

Archaeologists made the finding by using satellite imagery to analyze the barren foothills of northwestern China's Tian Shan Mountains. These peaks form the northern border of China's vast Taklamakan Desert and are part of a chain of mountain ranges that have long hosted prehistoric Silk Road routes connecting China with lands to its west.

The satellite imagery of one particularly dry area caught the researchers' attention: a region dubbed Mohuchahangoukou, or MGK, which gets a seasonal trickle of snowmelt and rainfall from the Mohuchahan River. From the ground, the area looks like little more than a scattering of boulders and ruts, but when the researchers flew a commercial four-rotor "quadcopter" drone about 100 feet (30 meters) over MGK to capture images, they could see outlines of dams, cisterns and irrigation canals feeding a patchwork of small farm fields, the scientists said. [The 10 Driest Places on Earth]

Initial excavations at the site confirmed the presence of farmhouses and graves that radiocarbon dating and other methods suggest likely date back to the third or fourth century A.D., the scientists noted. This ancient farming community was likely built by local herding groups that sought to add crops such as millet, barley, wheat and perhaps grapes to their diet, the researchers added.

"It was very surprising to me that a site of this size was not discovered earlier by scientists, who have been studying this area for 100 years," study author Yuqi Li, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis, told Live Science.

By feeding river water into farms, this ancient, well-preserved irrigation system helped people grow crops in one of the world's driest climates. The area at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert historically receives less than 3 inches (6.6 centimeters) of rainfall annually, or about one-fifth of the water typically deemed necessary to cultivate even the most drought-tolerant strains of wheat and millet, the researchers said. The area is drier than the Kalahari in southern Africa, the Gobi Desert in Central Asia and the American Southwest, but not as dry as the Atacama Desert in Chile or the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, Li said.

These new findings could help resolve a long-standing debate over how irrigation techniques first made their way to this arid corner of northwestern China's Xinjiang region. While some researchers suggest that all major irrigation techniques were brought to Xinjiang by troops of China's Han dynasty, which lasted from about 206 B.C. to A.D. 220, these new findings support the idea that local communities may have practiced arid-climate irrigation techniques before the Han.

"The most likely scenario is that this irrigation technology came from the West," Li said.

Prior work suggested that so-called agropastoral communities, which practiced both farming and herding along mountain ranges in ancient Central Asia, may have spread crops throughout a region that scientists call the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor. This giant exchange network may have spanned much of the Eurasian continent, bringing ancient nomadic groups together as they moved herds to seasonal pastures, and perhaps spreading irrigation techniques as well. [In Photos: Ancient Silk Road Cemetery Contains Carvings of Mythical Creatures]

The researchers noted that irrigation systems similar to MGK's have also been found at the Geokysur river delta oasis in southeast Turkmenistan dating to about 3000 B.C. and further west at the Tepe Gaz Tavila settlement in Iran dating to about 5000 B.C. The researchers added that an irrigation system nearly identical to MGK's is seen at the Wadi Faynan farming community, which was established in a desert environment in southern Jordan during the latter part of the Bronze Age (2500 B.C. to 900 B.C.) and includes boulder-constructed canals, cisterns and field boundaries.

In contrast, known Han-dynasty irrigation systems in Xinjiang are larger than ones seen in MGK. For instance, while MGK's system irrigates about 500 acres across seven parcels, the systems introduced by the Han dynasty in the Xinjiang communities of Milan and Loulan used wider, deeper, straight-line channels up to about 5.3 miles (8.5 kilometers) long to irrigate much larger areas. One irrigated more than 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares).

"The sophistication of the system at MGK surprised me," Li said. "Previously, I thought agropastoralists there randomly grew some crops to supplement their diets, but we've found an elaborate system [that they used] to assist in their agriculture. It's very likely they had a very sustainable system to develop agriculture in a desert environment, probably more sustainable than those constructed by Han dynasty troops."

Much remains for scientists to discover in Xinjiang, Li said. "The drone very cost-effectively allows me to survey a big area with very little investment of time and energy," he noted.

Li and his colleagues detailed their findings in the December issue of the journal Archaeological Research in Asia.

Original article on Live Science.

Rare item

A rare paper banknote dating from China's Imperial Ming Dynasty was discovered inside this antique Chinese wooden sculpture when it was being prepared for an art auction in Australia.

Art experts think the banknote was hidden inside the sculpture more than 600 years ago, possibly as an auspicious offering when the sculpture stood in a temple. [Read full story about the rare Ming Dynasty banknote]

Limited edition

The banknote is dated to the third year of the reign of the first emperor of China's Ming Dynasty — the year 1371 A.D. in the western calendar.

Although paper currency has been used for more than 1,000 years in China, very few early banknotes have survived intact to the present day.

Well-hidden

The ancient banknote was found hidden in a cavity inside the hollowed-out head of this antique wooden sculpture of a "louhan," an enlightened religious figure from the Chinese Buddhist tradition.

The sculpture is thought to date from the early 14th century, during the Yuan Dynasty, which preceded the Ming Dynasty.

Security mark

The front of the banknote is printed with Chinese characters in black ink and the official "seal stamps" in red ink that were intended to prevent counterfeiting.

The value of the note — one guan, equivalent to 1 ounce of pure silver or 1,000 copper coins — is depicted by 10 bundles of copper coins tied with string. [Read full story about the rare Ming Dynasty banknote]

A ancient leader

Paper money was invented in China during the 7th century A.D., and the first national banknotes were issued during the Song Dynasty from the 10th century to the 12th century.

This image shows the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who reigned from 1368 to 1398 A.D. — the period when the rediscovered banknote was printed.

Early money

Early Chinese banknotes were block printed from a carved matrix, often onto paper that had been recycled from discarded government documents.

This image shows the printing matrix and a printed banknote from 1287 A.D., during the Yuan Dynasty, though the note lacks the red seal stamps that were added to make them harder to counterfeit.

Before money

Earlier forms of Chinese money include "spade money," which was used during the Zhou dynasty between 1045 and 256 BCE, and "knife money" from around the same time.

It's thought that the use of these copper coins may have their origins in real tools of the same kind that were once used as currency for bartering.

Chinese coins were often pierced with a hole, which allowed them to be strung together in larger values or for safe handling.

Bank and money

The louhan sculpture and its hidden banknote will go up for auction in Australia next month, where they're expected to sell for up to 45,000 Australian dollars ($34,000 U.S.).

The artifacts are being sold as part of the Raphy Star collection of Asian art, which could fetch up to 5 million Australian dollars ($3.7 million U.S.) at auction. [Read full story about the rare Ming Dynasty banknote]

Art experts in Australia have found a rare paper banknote from the Ming Dynasty of Imperial China hidden inside an antique wooden sculpture that was being prepared for auction.

The Chinese characters on the crumpled banknote show that it was issued in the third year of the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty — or 1371 in the Western calendar. The inscriptions also warn would-be counterfeiters that they face the penalty of death by beheading.

The 645-year-old banknote was found hidden inside a wooden sculpture of the head of a "luohan," a religious figure from Chinese Buddhism, that may once have stood in a family or public temple, said Paul Sumner, chief executive of Mossgreen's Auctions in Melbourne, Australia, which discovered the note. [See photos of the paper banknote that dates back to China's Ming Dynasty]

Sumner said the firm's specialist in Asian artworks, Ray Tregaskis, spotted the note wedged inside the hollow head of the sculpture as he inspected the artifact in preparation for an auction in Sydney, Australia, next month.

"It wasn't easy to see — it was hidden right up out of eyesight, folded up into a little, 1-inch [2.5 centimeters] fold," Sumner told Live Science. "The note has been in at least two collections that we know of without the knowledge of the owners."

Currency experts at Mossgreen's Auctions immediately identified the note as a rare paper "bank seal" that was issued in China during the Ming Dynasty.

"It wasn't in very good condition, as you'd imagine with all those folds and after hundreds of years with some degree of exposure to the elements," Sumner said.

Very few of these Ming Dynasty banknotes have survived to present day, he added, "bearing in mind that they were constantly being handled — it's not like people kept them in plastic sleeves, like collectors would today."

Ming money

The Ming Dynasty banknote is much larger than modern paper money, roughly equivalent to the size of a standard "U.S. letter" page of paper.

Chinese characters and official seals printed in red and black ink declare that the note is a "Great Ming Treasure Note" with a value of "one guan" — depicted as 10 "strings" of Chinese copper coins, which could be grouped with a string through the hole in each coin.

According to the American historian of Chinese currency John E. Sandrock, one guan was equivalent to 1,000 copper coins, or 1 ounce (28 grams) of pure silver.

The newfound banknote also includes a dire warning to counterfeiters that they will be punished with decapitation, and offers a large reward to anyone who informs on such criminals.

At the time this banknote was issued, paper money was almost unheard of outside China. The first European banknotes date from the mid-17th century, around 300 years later. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

Based on the date on the banknote and the expert dating of the sculpture it was found in, it's thought the money may have been hidden as a religious offering when the sculpture was already 30 to 50 years old, Sumner said.

Small offerings like inscriptions on paper, rice grains and semiprecious stones are often found sealed inside the bases of antique Chinese figurines, he said. However, a high-value banknote is considered an extraordinary find, he said.

"From our point of view, what makes the banknote important is that the dating is very close to the dating we'd assumed from stylistic details about the [louhan] figure, as well as the intrigue factor of finding it," Sumner said.

Long journey

Sumner said the sculpture that held the hidden banknote was purchased by the Australian art collector Raphy Star from a specialist dealer in the United Kingdom, but nothing is known about the artifact's origins in China.

"These figures were created for veneration and for spiritual use, sometimes in temples and sometimes in homes," Sumner said. "It may have been part of a larger figure, and because of its size, [we can conclude that] it probably stood in a temple."

The long journey of the sculpture and its hidden banknote may not be over yet: Both artifacts are up for auction in Sydney on Dec. 11, along with the rest of the Raphy Star collection, and are likely to return to China, Sumner said.

"The Chinese have been major buyers for a long time now, and have been repatriating important pieces back to China — particularly mainland China," he said.

The entire Raphy Star collection of artworks from China, Japan and Southeast Asia could fetch up to 5 million Australian dollars ($3.7 million U.S.) at auction, Sumner said.

The louhan sculpture and banknote will be sold together, as a single lot, with an estimated value of up to 45,000 Australian dollars ($34,000 U.S.).

"It's not that we were worried about being beheaded ourselves, but we just thought it might have been more auspicious to keep the two together," Sumner said. "It's such a great story that we didn't really want to separate them."

Original article on Live Science.

About 2,500 years ago, mourners buried a man in an elaborate grave, and covered his chest with a shroud made of 13 Cannabis plants, according to a new study.

The grave is one of a select few ancient Central Eurasian burials that archaeologists have found to contain Cannabis. This particular grave, located in northwestern China, sheds new light on how prehistoric people in the region used the plant in rituals, the researchers said.

The finding, "a remarkable archeobotanical [also spelled 'archaeobotanical'] discovery in its own right," came about after the region's modern inhabitants decided to build a new cemetery next to a picturesque oasis, the researchers wrote in the study. However, construction workers soon found that an ancient graveyard was in their way. [25 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

Archaeologists came to the site and quickly discovered a bounty of artifacts buried in the graves — bows, arrows and the remains of domesticated animals, including goats, sheep and a horse skull — indicating that these ancient people engaged in both hunting and animal husbandry, the researchers said.

The ancient Jiayi cemetery likely belonged to the Subeixi culture, according to analyses of earthenware pots found in some of the graves. The Subeixi were the first known people to live in the arid Turpan Basin (what's now western China) starting about 3,000 years ago, and eventually transitioned into a farming society, according to Archaeology.about.com.

Cannabis shroud

In all, the archaeologists uncovered 240 ancient tombs, including that of the man with the Cannabis shroud in tomb M231. The remains of the man, a Caucasian about 35 years old when he died, were lying on a bed frame made of wooden slats. His head rested on a pillow created from common reeds, and the grave was filled with earthenware pots, the archaeologists found.

But more astonishingly, "13 nearly whole female Cannabis plants were laid diagonally across the body of the deceased like a shroud, with the roots and lower parts of the plants grouped together and placed below the pelvis," the researchers wrote in the study.

The Cannabis plants were long — about 19 to 35 inches (49 to 90 centimeters) in length, and reached to just under the man's chin on the left side of his face, the researchers said. 

Immature fruits on the Cannabis plant suggest that they were uprooted in late summer, indicating that the man was buried in late August or early September, the researchers said.

Although the grave is between 2,400 and 2,800 years old, according to radiocarbon dating, the Cannabis remained intact because the region is bone-dry, the researchers said. There are years when it doesn't even rain. But river deposits, such as sand and pebbles — as well as the ancient remains of water plants, including horsetails and reeds — indicate that the ancient Jiayi cemetery once sat next to a riverbed, the researchers said.

"Weedy" graves

Grave M231 is hardly the only ancient Cannabis-containing burial. The Turpan Basin has another Subeixi graveyard called the Yanghai cemetery, which is also dated to the first millennium B.C., according to a 2006 study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. One of its burials had a large supply of processed Cannabis flowers in two containers — a coiled leather basket and a wooden bowl — that sat next to a male corpse, the 2006 study found. [In Photos: Ancient Silk Road Cemetery]

The grave didn't hold any evidence of hemp clothing or rope, which are made of the Cannabis plant. Rather, the plant's large seeds and high presence of cannabinol (a degraded product of the plant's psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC) suggest that the Cannabis was used as a psychoactive substance, the researchers said.

Another ancient Yanghai tomb contained Cannabis flower heads, indicating that people may have used it for medicinal purposes, the researchers said. 

In addition, archaeologists have found Cannabis in graves located in tombs of the Pazyryk culture in southern Siberia, where there is also evidence of the plant's "ritualistic if not psychoactive usage," the researchers wrote in the study. Experts also discovered the plant in an Altai Mountain Pazyryk-culture tomb of a woman who had died of breast cancer and possibly used the Cannabis to help her cope with symptoms, the researchers said.

"Apparently, medicinal — and possibly spiritual, or at least ritualistic — Cannabis use was a widespread custom among Central Eurasian peoples during the first millennium before the Christian era," the researchers wrote in the study.

The findings were published online Sept. 20 in the journal Economic Botany. 

Original article on Live Science.

In Datong City in northern China, not far from a modern railway station, archaeologists have uncovered a 1,000-year-old tomb covered with murals. The tomb's ceiling is decorated with stars and constellations. Exactly who occupied the tomb is a mystery -- no human remains were found, although archaeologists say this is not unusual for Buddist burials that date to this time period. [Read full story: 1,000-Year-Old Tomb Reveals Murals, Stars & Poetry]

The entrance

This image shows the entrance to the tomb. The entryway is flanked by two gatekeepers. On the left is a man holding a staff, while on the right there is a woman holding a fan. Above the door is a Garuda, a mythical bird, which is depicted as watching over the entrance. Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

Pets and attendants

The mural in this picture is located on the tomb's north wall and shows a black and white cat with a red ribbon on its neck and a silk strip ball in its mouth. People who worked as attendants to the tomb's occupant can be seen in the background. The cat would presumably have been one of the tomb owner's pets.

The occupant's dog?

The same mural on the north wall also shows a black and white dog with a red ribbon on its neck, and a curved tail. More attendants can be seen and there is an empty bed between the cat and dog. Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

The scene

Here is the whole scene on the north wall. The cat, dog and attendants are shown in a bedroom with an empty bed. Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

The ceiling of the tomb, now damaged, contains stars painted in vermilion, a bright red color. The stars are connected together to form constellations. Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

A small statue

Inside the tomb archaeologists found a small statue of the tomb owner measuring about 3.1 feet (0.94 meters) in height. The smiling owner is shown wearing a long black robe, and sitting cross legged on a platform. No human remains were found in the tomb. Although it had been robbed at some point in the past, the researchers say it's also possible that the statue acted as a substitute for a burial. Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

Poetry

The east wall of the tomb shows attendants carrying food and drinks. There is also a horse saddle on a rack, a reclining deer, a crane, bamboo trees, a crawling yellow turtle, an axe and a snake. At top right, beside the saddle, there is a poem. Part of it reads, "Time tells that bamboo can endure cold weather. Live as long as the spirits of the crane and turtle." Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

Travels

The west wall of the tomb shows scenes of travel. At the top, a Bactrian camel pulls a carriage, while at bottom, a saddled horse is being led by an attendant. At top left there are agricultural scenes showing ploughing and men working with hoes. Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. 

One of the most astounding archaeological discoveries of the 20th century is arguably the life-size terra-cotta army buried alongside China's first emperor. Now, scientists have figured out how the bronze triggers for the crossbows of the 8,000 terra-cotta warriors were manufactured.

Teams of craftspeople worked in small groups to produce the bronze pieces in batches for the tomb of ancient Emperor Qin Shi Huang, according to a new study detailed in the March issue of the journal Antiquity.

Prepared for the afterlife

Historical documents suggest that soon after Emperor Qin Shi Huang ascended to the throne in 246 B.C., he began work on his tomb near Xi'an, China. When the tomb was first unearthed in the 1970s,it revealed thousands of lifelike terra-cotta statues of artisans, musicians, officials, horses and soldiers. The epic effort conscripted 700,000 laborers, many of whom were convicts or people who were in debt to the empire, said study co-author Xiuzhen Janice Li, an archaeologist who was at the University College London at the time of the new work and is now at the Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in China. [In Images: Ancient Chinese Warriors Protect Secret Tomb]

The massive undertaking had an important goal: ensuring the emperor's military power and resources in the afterlife.

As part of the huge project, craftspeople sculpted about 8,000 colorful warriors — likely using real human beings as inspiration — and those warriors wore stone armor and "wielded" lances, swords and crossbows.

But it wasn't clear exactly how these ancient weapons were made. The crossbows were made of wood or bamboo that rotted long ago, and only the tips and triggers for the bows remained, Li told Live Science.

Small workshops

To learn more about how the massive trove was built, Li and her colleagues visually inspected and measured about 216 of the five-part crossbow triggers from the mausoleum.

The lack of wear on the metal pieces suggests the weapons were never used in actual battle, but were instead built solely for the tomb, the researchers said.

In addition, the team analyzed the spots where triggers were found in the tomb, as well as the variation in the size and shape of the pieces.

The pieces were mostly uniform, suggesting the interlocking trigger parts were made in the same or nearly-identical molds and produced in small batches. Each batch of the trigger pieces was likely then assembled in small cells, or workshops, perhaps headed by an overseer.  That model contrasts with the "assembly line" hypothesis that some archaeologists thought might have been used.

Mirror of society

The organization into small workshops was similar to the structure the emperor imposed on the rest of society in ancient China, said study co-author Marcos Martinón-Torres, an archaeologist at the University College London.

"He abolished any privileges inherited by blood, and the population was divided in small groups that were collectively responsible for their adherence to imperial laws," Martinón-Torres wrote in an email to Live Science. "For example, if someone in one of these groups committed a crime, all of them were held responsible, unless they reported the culprit and allowed them to be punished."

The manufacturing technique used in the workshop also may have been used by weapon makers for the Emperor of Qin's real armies, though that's just speculation, Martinón-Torres said.

"The cellular workshop model we postulate for the weapons manufacture in the mausoleum would have also offered useful flexibility for armies on the move," he said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Guan Yu was a Chinese military general whose martial prowess was so great that, after his death, he was deified as a god. In modern times, he is revered for his bravery and loyalty. He has also become a popular figure in historical fiction, movies and video games.

The year of his birth is unknown; he died in A.D. 219 or 220. Guan lived at a time when the Han Dynasty, which had ruled China for nearly 400 years, was collapsing. During his lifetime, a series of events would occur that resulted in the emergence of the “Three Kingdoms” of Wei, Wu and Shu. Guan served a man named Liu Bei, who would eventually become King of Shu.

Guan was a “man of great physical courage and skill, at one occasion (he) had a serious operation on his arm carried during a banquet and even as the blood flowed he ate and drank and laughed as usual,” writes Rafe de Crespigny, a retired professor at the Australian National University, in his book “A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD)” (Brill, 2007).

Little is known of his early life. His style name (also called courtesy name) was originally “Changsheng” but it was later changed to “Yunchang.” He was registered as being from Hedong Commandery (also called a prefecture, or administrative region). At some point in the late second century, he fled to Zhou Commandery in fear of his life and joined up with Liu Bei. Eventually Guan, Liu Bei and another man named Zhang Fei would become brothers of sorts, with a deep sense of loyalty to each other, one that would become legend.

Capture by Cao Cao

Liu Bei’s early military ventures did not go well. In A.D. 200, Guan was captured by Cao Cao, a military general who would go on to control a vast amount of territory in northern China. His lands would eventually form the Kingdom of Wei.

Cao Cao treated Guan well and made him a lieutenant general in his own army. Still, Guan regarded Liu Bei and Zhang Fei as brothers and he would not abandon them.

According to the 11th-century Chinese historian Ssu-ma Kuang, Guan decided that he had to escape and rejoin Liu, but not before doing Cao Cao a favor first. “I know well how generously Lord (Cao Cao) has treated me, but I have received favors from General (Liu Bei) and I swore to die with him. In the end I must go.” (Translation by Rafe de Crespigny, published in 1969)

To repay Cao Cao for the good way he had treated him Guan decided to kill a general named Yan Liang, who served a man named Yuan Shao (a rival of Cao Cao).

“Yu saw Liang’s standard in the distance. He whipped his horse and broke through to Liang among ten thousand men of his army. He cut off Liang’s head and came back and no one in Shao’s army could resist him,” wrote Ssu-ma Kuang.

After the battle, he fled Cao Cao’s army to rejoin Liu Bei. Cao Cao was said to have been so impressed by his loyalty and martial prowess that he ordered his troops to let Guan go.

Battle of Red Cliffs

Over the next two decades Guan, would work with Liu Bei in a series of military campaigns that would eventually lead to the foundation of the Kingdom of Shu.

Records indicate that he excelled at naval warfare. In A.D. 208, after the death of general Liu Biao, he took command of a fleet of ships on the Han River and brought them to Red Cliffs. During this battle, Cao Cao’s army, pressing south, tried to re-unify China by destroying the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, who had formed an alliance. The battle was a disaster for Cao Cao and he suffered a defeat that allowed the three kingdoms to come into existence.

As Liu Bei consolidated his position, becoming the King of Shu, Guan was promoted to the position of “General of the Van,” something that he was unhappy about because he had the same rank as a man named Huang Chung whom he disliked.

“I’m better than that dunderhead!” Guan is said to have thundered when he heard that he would have the same rank as Huang (eventually Guan agreed to accept the arrangement).

The final campaign

Around A.D. 219, Guan led an army of Liu Bei’s in attacking Fancheng, a city held by Cao Cao. Laying siege, he was concerned that the forces of Sun Quan would betray and attack him (the alliance between Liu Bei and Sun had grown cold since the Battle of Red Cliffs).

His fear was not unfounded. The Chinese historian Ssu-ma Kuang writes that Sun’s general Lu Meng started plotting against him. “Yu is brave and fierce, so it is difficult to match him. He already holds (Jing) province and he governs with great favor and loyalty,” Meng said according to the historian.

Ssu-ma Kuang wrote that Guan aggravated the situation by seizing Sun Quan’s food stores without permission to support the siege of Fancheng. Sun plotted against Guan. He replaced the local general, Lu Meng, with a man whom Guan thought would pose no threat. This led Guan to withdraw troops from his rear guard to support the siege. Sun also sent a letter to Cao Cao offering to launch a joint attack against Guan.

Cao Cao decided to publish Sun Quan’s letter, hoping that Guan would abandon the siege of Fancheng to fight Sun (Cao Cao wanted to have his enemies fight against each other). Guan thought the letter was fake and kept up his siege. Meanwhile, Lu attacked Guan’s weak rearguard positions, taking them out before a message could be sent to Guan.

While his rearguard positions were under attack, Guan’s siege of Fancheng faltered. A counter-attack by Cao Cao’s forces forced Guan to break it off. Guan suddenly found himself commanding a weakened force trapped between two enemy armies, those of Cao Cao and Sun Quan.

Battle of Jiangling

Lu Meng, Sun Quan’s general, made Guan’s situation worse by capturing the city of Jiangling, which housed the families of many of Guan’s officers. Lu Meng treated them very well and made sure that Guan’s army knew it.

“All knew that their families had come to no harm and were even treated better than in peacetime so Yu’s soldiers became less interested in fighting,” wrote Ssu-ma Kuang. This led to desertions, shrinking Guan’s forces even further.

Still Guan refused offers to surrender, at one point pretending to surrender to Sun Quan’s troops before running away. Eventually, his remaining force was trapped and Guan Yu and his son Guan Ping were captured and executed.

Becoming a god

After his death, Guan Yu became a legend and eventually a god. Hundreds of years later, when a dynasty called the Tang came to power in China, Guan was honored for his “righteous loyalty” to his lord Liu Bei, writes Whalen Lai, a professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of California Davis, in the “Encyclopaedia of Asian Philosophy” (Routledge, 2001).

During the 10th century, when China was again divided into warring kingdoms, his cult grew. His “personal loyalty to a lord was a premium virtue,” Lai writes. In the 14th century, a novel called “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” publicized the exploits of Guan Yu, further increasing his popularity.

At some point, he became a god of war and is revered today as a symbol of loyalty, righteousness and bravery. He is referred to as Guan Gong (Lord Guan) or Guan Di (Emperor Guan). His “image appears in many Taoist shrines of the present day,” writes de Crespigny. He is also a revered figure in Buddhism, Confucianism and Chinese folk religion. In 2008 and 2009 a movie dramatizing the Battle of Red Cliffs was released in two parts and featured actor Batdorj-in Baasanjab as Guan Yu.

In Japan and the West, he has also become a popular figure in a series of video games produced by the company Koei. These video games emphasize his abilities as a general and martial artist.

— Owen Jarus

The Terracotta Warriors, along with other life-size sculptures built for the First Emperor of China, were inspired by Greek art, new research indicates.

About 8,000 Terracotta Warriors, which are life-size statues of infantryman, cavalry, archers, charioteers and generals, were buried in three pits less than a mile to the northeast of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor.  He unified the country through conquest more than 2,200 years ago. Pits containing sculptures of acrobats, strongmen, dancers and civil servants have also been found near the mausoleum.

Now, new research points to ancient Greek sculpture as the inspiration for the emperor's afterlife army. [See Photos of the Terracotta Warriors & Greek Art]

"It is perfectly possible and actually likely that the sculptures of the First Emperor are the result of early contact between Greece and China," writes Lukas Nickel, a reader with the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, in the most recent edition of the journal Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. (A reader is a position comparable to an associate or full professor in the American system.)

Nickel's evidence includes newly translated ancient records that tell a fantastic tale of giant statues that "appeared" in the far west, inspiring the first emperor of China to duplicate them in front of his palace. This story offers evidence of early contact between China and the West, contacts that Nickel says inspired the First Emperor (which is what Qin Shi Huangdi called himself) to not only duplicate the 12 giant statues but to build the massive Terracotta Army along with other life-size sculptures.

Before the First Emperor's time, life-size sculptures were not built in China, and Nickel argues the idea to build so many of them, so suddenly, came from kingdoms in Asia that had been created and influenced by Alexander the Great's campaigns.

'Giants' appearing in the west

Nickel translated ancient Chinese records that tell a tale of 12 giant statues, clad in "foreign robes" that "appeared" in Lintao in what was the westernmost part of China. (The word "Lintao" can also mean any place far to the west.)

The records do not say how this appearance happened, who brought them there, or who exactly the statues depicted; they do reveal the statues werelarger than life, risingabout 38 feet (11.55 meters) high, with feet that were 4.5 feet long (1.38 m). They so impressed the First Emperor that he decided to build 12 duplicates in front of his palace by melting down bronze weapons that had been used for war.

On each duplicate an inscription was created telling of the "giants" (the original statues) that appeared in Lintao. The inscriptions, recorded by Yan Shigu, who lived around 1,400 years agoand used an earlier written source, said that in the "26th Year of the Emperor, when he first brought together all-under-heaven, divided the principalities into provinces and districts, and unified the weights and measures, [these] giants appeared in Lintao …"

The First Emperor duplicated these statues despite a "heavenly taboo" that "he who recklessly follows foreign models will encounter disaster," wrote Ban Gu, a historian who lived almost 2,000 years ago. Ban worked for the dynasty that had overthrown the First Emperor's dynasty and, as such, tried to cast him in a negative light.  [Photos: China's Forbidden City Revealed]

These giant duplicates no longer exist, having been destroyed in the centuries after the First Emperor's death. Because the duplicates were displayed publicly in front of the First Emperor's palace ancient writers left records of them behind, Nickel told LiveScience. Meanwhile, the Terracotta Warriors, though they survive to present day, were buried in pits out of sight and, as such, no record of them survives today.

Even so, the newly translated records suggest contact, of some form, occurred between ancient China and kingdoms in Central Asia that had been influenced by Greek culture and its sculpture-building tradition.

Acrobats and dancers

A few dozen statues of half-naked acrobats and dancers were also found in separate pits near the First Emperor's mausoleum.

"Here the sculptors attempted to render a bone structure, muscles and sinews to depict a person in movement," Nickel writes in his paper. "This comes close to an understanding of the human body that was employed at the time only in Hellenistic (Greek influenced) Europe and Asia."

He argues that creating this sort of realistic sculpture is not something that a sculptor could learn without some practice, taking the ancient Greeks centuries to master it.

"The creation of a believable human body preoccupied generations of Greek sculptors. It was a complex artistic and intellectual process that did not happen overnight," Nickel writes.

Why did they stop building the statues?

All this research leaves another mystery in its wake. After the First Emperor's death the rulers that came to power, the Han Dynasty, stopped building life-size sculptures, opting instead for miniature representations of people, animals and objects, Nickel said.

Several reasons could explain why the people stopped building these humanlike statues, Nickel said. For instance, the skills involved in building these sculptures were complicated and, by the time Han rulers started building large tombs again, the people who had these skills could simply have died.

But there is another idea, one hinted at by the "heavenly taboo" recorded by Ban Gu that "disaster" happens when foreign models are followed recklessly. To the ancient Chinese, the 12 giantstatues clad in foreign robes, and the Terracotta Warriors buried in pits, would have represented something unusual and foreign, Nickel said.

"Over all of Chinese early history sculpture did play only a minor role," Nickel told LiveScience in the interview. "To the Chinese it must have looked quite alien," he added. The Han rulers, wishing to repudiate the First Emperor and his foreign tastes, may have simply decided not to create life-sizeor largersculptures of their own, Nickel said.  

Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

A Florida art dealer is facing heavy fines and possible prison time in connection with an ancient artifact smuggling case.

Francois B. Lorin, 74, of Winter Park, was hit with obstruction of justice charges after he forged documents in an attempt to legitimize an illegal shipment of ancient Chinese objects, federal authorizes allege.

The artifacts in question are hundreds, even thousands of years old. They include Neolithic amulets, a gold and silver inlaid container and a bronze mirror elaborately decorated with fish and birds, according to court documents.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection discovered the artifacts in Miami, Fla., in June 2011. They detained the shipment from Hong Kong "due to inconsistencies between the shipping documentation and physical examination," said a spokesperson with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A certified appraiser who specialized in Asian art and archaeology helped federal investigators assess the items, the spokesperson said. Of the 488 art objects contained in the shipment, 27 were deemed contraband, because they predate A.D. 907.

In 2009, the United States and China signed an agreement that makes it illegal to import any archaeological materials that date from China's Paleolithic Period (c. 75,000 B.C.) through the end of the Tang Period (A.D. 907), unless the importer has explicit government approval. However, dealers don't need permission to reimport artifacts that were initially brought into the United States before 2009.

After Lorin's shipment was seized, he allegedly created false documents and backdated invoices to claim the Chinese artifacts were acquired before 2009.

Lorin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to ICE officials. The art dealership Lorin & Son, LLC, also faces a maximum $500,000 fine and up to five years' probation.

Through its cultural property investigations, ICE says it has returned more than 7,150 artifacts to 26 countries, including Germany, Italy, Peru, Cambodia and Iraq.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

The Forbidden City, the palace once home to the emperors of China, was built by workers sliding giant stones for miles on slippery paths of wet ice, researchers have found.

The emperors of China lived in the Forbidden City, located in the heart of Beijing, for nearly 500 years, during China's final two imperial dynasties, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Vast numbers of huge stones were mined and transported there for its construction in the 15th and 16th centuries. The heaviest of these giant boulders, aptly named the Large Stone Carving, now weighs more than 220 tons (200 metric tons) but once weighed more than 330 tons (300 metric tons).

Many of the largest building blocks of the Forbidden City came from a quarry about 43 miles (70 kilometers) away from the site. People in China had been using the spoked wheel since about 1500 B.C., so it was commonly thought that such colossal stones would've been transported on wheels, not by something like a sled. [See Photos of the Forbidden City & Building Stones]

However, Jiang Li, an engineer at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, translated a 500-year-old document, which revealed that an especially large stone — measuring 31 feet (9.5 meters) long and weighing about 135 tons (123 metric tons) — was slid over ice to the Forbidden City on a sledge hauled by a team of men over 28 days in the winter of 1557. This finding supported previously discovered clues suggesting that sleds helped to build the imperial palace.

To discover why sleds were still used for hauling gigantic stones 3,000 years after the development of the wheel, Li and her colleagues calculated how much energy it would take for sleds to accomplish this goal.

"We were never sure quite what we would learn," said study co-author Howard Stone, an engineer at Princeton University.

The ancient document Li translated revealed that workers dug wells every 1,600 feet (500 meters) or so to get water to pour on the ice to lubricate it. This made the ice even more slippery and, therefore, easier upon which to slide rocks.

The researchers calculated that a workforce of fewer than 50 men could haul a 123-ton stone on a sledge over lubricated ice from the quarry to the Forbidden City. In contrast, pulling the same load over bare ground would have required more than 1,500 men.

Moreover, the researchers estimated that the average speed of a 123-ton stone hauled on a sled on wet ice would be about 3 inches (8 centimeters) per second. This would have been fast enough for the stone to slide over the wet ice before the liquid water on the ice froze.

All in all, the researchers suggested that workers preferred hauling stones on smooth, flat, slippery, wet ice rather than on a bumpy ride on a wheeled cart. The ancient document Li translated revealed there were debates over whether to rely on sledges or wheels to help build the Forbidden City — sledges may have required far more workers, time and money than mule-pulled wagons, but sledges were seen as a safer and more reliable means for slowly transporting heavy objects.

"It is humbling to think about a big project like this taking place 500 to 600 years ago, and the level of planning and coordination that was needed for it to occur," Stone told LiveScience.

Li, Stone and their colleague Haosheng Chen detailed their findings online Nov. 4 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Follow LiveScience @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

Forbidden city

Located in the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City (shown in aerial view here) was home to the emperors of China for nearly 500 years, during China's final two imperial dynasties, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.

Large Stone Carving

Vast numbers of huge stones were mined and transported there for its construction in the 15th and 16th centuries. The heaviest of these giant boulders, aptly named the Large Stone Carving (shown here), now weighs more than 220 tons (200 metric tons) but once weighed more than 330 tons (300 metric tons).

Sliding Stones

Rather than using a wheeled cart, workers likely slid massive stones, such as this 300-ton marble carving in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, Beijing, China, along artificial ice paths.

Outer Court

The southern portion, which is also called the outer court, ends in the Hall of Supreme Harmony (the largest building) and tended to be where official business was carried out. The northern portion, which is also known as the inner court, had the residences of the emperor and his family as well as the harem where his concubines were kept.

Exclusive access

In total, 24 emperors occupied the Forbidden City, which was named because it could only be accessed by the emperor, his immediate family, his women and thousands of eunuchs, or castrated male servants, and officials. The city was renovated constantly throughout its 600-year history.

The moat

Here, the 171-foot-wide (52 meters) moat surrounding the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Lots of visitors

Today, the Forbidden City is a major tourist destination attracting millions of visitors each year. In a single day on Oct. 2, 2013, some 175,000 individuals visited the city, making it the most visited World Heritage site in the world.

Hall of Supreme Harmony

The roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is decorated with dragons.

The Forbidden City (also called Zijin Cheng) is a 72-hectare (178 acres) palace complex in Beijing that was used by the emperors of China from A.D. 1420 to 1911.

In total, 24 emperors occupied the Forbidden City, so named because it could only be accessed by the emperor, his immediate family, his women and thousands of eunuchs (castrated male servants) and officials. It was renovated constantly throughout its 600-year history.

The complex consists of about 980 buildings, mainly in yellow and red colors, surrounded by a wall 32 feet (10 meters) high and a moat 171 feet (52 meters) wide. The city is configured on a north-south axis that aligns with the pole star, emphasizing the emperor’s position as the son of heaven. “The whole palace context is built along a central axis, the axis of the world,” said University of Sydney professor Jeffrey Riegel in a 2008 BBC/History Channel documentary, “everything in the four directions suspend from this central point represented by these palaces.”

The southern portion, which is also called the outer court, ends in the Hall of Supreme Harmony (the largest building) and tended to be where official business was carried out. The northern portion, which is also known as the inner court, had the residences of the emperor and his family as well as the harem where his concubines were kept.

It was difficult for an ordinary male to enter the Forbidden City, said Chen Shen, the curator of a 2014 Forbidden City exhibition at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum. He said that for a common man to enter he would likely have to become a eunuch, having his genitals cut off.  Even then “you still have to work your way up for many, many, many years before you get close to the emperor and his women.”

Shen added that the Forbidden City is, today, a major tourist destination attracting millions of visitors each year. On a single day in 2013, October 2, “the Forbidden City welcomed 175,000 visitors making it the most visited World Heritage destination in the world.”

Origins

The palace complex was ordered built by Zhu Di (the Yongle Emperor) who lived A.D. 1360-1424. He was crowned emperor in 1402 after forcefully overthrowing his nephew. After his ascension, he decided to move the imperial capital from Nanjing to his power base in what was then called Beiping, renaming the city Beijing “the northern capital.”

Moving the capital and building a new palace complex was an immense operation that meant expanding China’s canal system and mobilizing about 1 million workers to cut down trees, quarry rocks, make bricks and transport supplies, among the many other necessary activities.

Vast numbers of huge stones were mined and transported there for the city's construction in the 15th and 16th centuries. The heaviest of these giant boulders, aptly named the Large Stone Carving, now weighs more than 220 tons (200 metric tons) but once weighed more than 330 tons (300 metric tons).

Jiang Li, an engineer at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, recently translated a 500-year-old document, which revealed that an especially large stone — measuring 31 feet (9.5 meters) long and weighing about 135 tons (123 metric tons) — was slid over ice to the Forbidden City on a sledge hauled by a team of men over 28 days in the winter of 1557. This finding supported previously discovered clues suggesting that sleds helped to build the imperial palace.

The emperor felt that heaven had turned against him when, in 1421, lightning strikes resulted in three of his palaces burning down. “I am frightened to the very core of my being and I don’t know what to do …” said the emperor in a document quoted by Riegel in the documentary. Despite Zhu Di’s bad fortune the Forbidden City continued to be used by China’s emperors in both good times and bad.

Entering the City

The Meridian Gate, which towers as high as 125 feet (38 meters), is located in the south and serves as the formal entranceway to the city. It leads visitors through a series of courtyards that end in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the central and largest building where the emperor would conduct business. 

Officials had to wait outside the Meridian Gate at about 3 a.m. to be admitted for their work, the gateway also serving public ceremonial purposes, writes Geremie Barme, a professor at the Australian National University, in his book "The Forbidden City" (Profile Books, 2008). “From the gate’s parapets, emperors presided over military ceremonies and victory parades, as well as the annual proclamation of the calendar which determined agricultural and ritual activities throughout the empire.”

The Hall of Supreme Harmony sits on a dais and stands about 115 feet (35 meters) tall, writes Marilyn Shea, a professor at the University of Maine, in a 2009 online article.  “At the top of the building, at each end of the roof ridge, are two dragons facing one another,” she writes noting that each dragon is more than 11 feet (3 meters) long and weighs close to five tons.

Barme notes that in later times, after a line of rulers from Manchuria formed the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), another building known as the “Hall of Mental Cultivation” took over, in practice, as the main workplace of the emperor.

Change of dynasties

One of the most important events to happen in the Forbidden City occurred in 1644. In that year, a rebel army attacked Beijing, forcing the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian (the Chongzhen emperor) to commit suicide.

A Manchu army from Manchuria was invited by the remaining Ming supporters to march on Beijing and kick the rebels out. They succeeded but the price of their success was the founding of a new, Manchu-led, dynasty known as the Qing. Their rulers would go on to rebuild Beijing, and much of the Forbidden City, after the devastation brought by the rebel forces. They incorporated Manchu customs into the daily life of the city while continuing to respect earlier Ming customs. The Qing Dynasty would be the last imperial dynasty of China, ending in 1912 with the abdication of the 5-year-old Puyi.

An emperor’s retirement abode

The Qing Dynasty reached the height of its power under Hongli (the Qianlong emperor) who reigned 1736-1795. In 1795, after ruling for 60 years, he officially retired as emperor so that the length of his rule would not surpass that of his grandfather.

In doing so, he built a retirement palace called Ningshougong (Tranquility and Longevity Palace) in the northeast part of the Forbidden City, writes Nancy Berliner in an article published in the book "The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City" (Peabody Essex Museum, 2010). It included a “twenty-seven pavilion garden” spanning two acres that “would reference nature and inner harmony, with places for leisurely contemplation, poetry writing, Buddhist meditation, and delighting in the visual arts,” Berliner writes.

In practice, the Qianlong emperor was never able to fully enjoy this palace or his retirement, retaining unofficial power up until his death in 1799. His rule would represent the height of the Qing Dynasty, the 19th century being one of decline.

The two Dowagers

In the 19th century, the Dowagers, mothers of the emperors, would gain greater influence. Dowager Cixi, who lived 1835-1908, would gain great power when her 5-year-old son, the Tongzhi Emperor, ascended the throne in 1861. For a time, she ruled literally “behind the screen” along with Dowager Ci’an (who died in 1881), telling Tongzhi and his successor what to do.

This period of rule was one of decline for the Qing Dynasty, something which some authors have tried to blame on the Dowagers, Cixi in particular. A major problem the Qing had to deal with was the relative decline of their own military in comparison to that of the Western powers. Barme notes that after the failed 1900 Boxer Rebellion, a foreign army occupied Beijing, looting the Forbidden City.

The imperial throne did not last long after Cixi’s 1908 death. In 1911, an uprising forced the 5-year-old emperor Puyi and his Dowager mother to flee the Forbidden City. He formally abdicated the following year and China would never have an emperor again. The Palace Museum was founded in the Forbidden City in 1925. Today this museum has about 1.5 million artifacts from the city under its care. 

Forbidden City under Mao

Even without the emperors, there was still much history left to be made in the Forbidden City. In the Chinese civil war that broke out after World War II, the retreating Nationalists moved about 600,000 treasures, originally from the Forbidden City, to Taiwan, where they are now part of a Palace Museum in Taipei.

When the communists under Mao took control of Beijing, they didn’t know what to do with the Forbidden City. Barme notes in his book that the palace complex, with the opulence it afforded the emperor, seemed at odds with Mao’s way of thinking and plans were proposed to tear it down. They were never put into action, however, and when Richard Nixon made his groundbreaking trip to China in 1972, he visited the Forbidden City.

Unexplored history

Today, there are still many more stories waiting to be told about the Forbidden City. The Palace Museum in Beijing has more than 1.5 million artifacts from the city, including many which have yet to be published despite a program that has produced 60 volumes in the last few decades.

Chen Shen told LiveScience in an interview that when his team was putting together the Toronto exhibition they made a week-long trip to the vaults where many treasures of the emperors and their families are being stored, including their textiles, bronzes, paintings, silver and gold utensils, documents, thrones and personalized cups among many other objects. Of the 250 artifacts his team selected for the Toronto exhibition, about 50 had never been published and 80 had never left the Forbidden City at all.

For educators and documentary makers, telling the numerous stories about the Forbidden City is also a challenge. Recently the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation supported a 100-episode documentary co-produced by CCTV9 and the Palace Museum that tells as much of the story as possible.

Today the importance of the Forbidden City is again undisputed. Whatever doubts Mao had about the Forbidden City had when he first entered it have been swept aside and today it is recognized as one of the greatest heritage sites in China and indeed the world. “This building still stands today as the symbol of the Chinese people and their great and glorious history,” said McGill University professor Robin Yates in the BBC/History Channel documentary.

A colorful, well-preserved "mural tomb," where a military commander and his wife were likely buried nearly 1,500 years ago, has been uncovered in China.

The domed tomb's murals, whose original colors are largely preserved, was discovered in Shuozhou City, about 200 miles (330 kilometers) southwest of Beijing. Researchers estimate that the murals cover an area of about 860 square feet (80 square meters), almost the same area as a modern-day bowling lane.

Most of the grave's goods have been looted, and the bodies are gone, but the murals, drawn on plaster, are still there. In a passageway leading into the tomb, a door guard leans on his long sword watching warily. Across from him, also in the passageway, is a guard of honor, supported by men on horses, their red-and-blue uniforms still vivid despite the passing of so many centuries. [See Pictures of the Ancient Mural Tomb]

Inside the tomb itself, the man and woman who had been interned are depicted enjoying a banquet while sitting under a canopy. A man plays a tall harp while two other musicians hold windpipe instruments. At the tomb's entranceway, another mural shows four men blowing into long horns.

In addition to the commander's wife there are a number of females depicted in the tomb. Some of them are attendants and a few appear to be musicians (one of them carrying a windpipe instrument). The archaeologists note that all the females, including the wife, are depicted with their hair in the shape of a "flying bird."

Another scene features a tall red horse ready to be mounted. In another scene is a carriage pulled by a tan ox and driven by two men, each with black hair and curly beards (possibly foreigners).

And then there is the dome itself, which shows how the ancient Chinese viewed the heavens.

"The domed ceiling is painted uniformly in dark gray color to signify the infinite space of the sky. The Silver River (representing the Milky Way) flows across the sky from the southwest to the northeast, and inside the river are fine fish-scale patterns representing waves in the water," wrote archaeologist Liu Yan, who reported the discovery, in translated English, in the most recent edition of the journal Chinese Archaeology. A longer version of the article, written in Chinese, was published earlier in the journal Wenwu.

Yan notes that, on either side of this Silver River, white dots represent the stars, alongside representations of the moon and sun, with the sun bearing a "gold crow" at its center. Supernatural beings and zodiac animals are depicted below this sky map.

Tomb raiders

The tomb was uncovered in a salvage excavation in 2008. Yan said that the tomb had been robbed three times before he got to it, and most of the grave goods, including the bodies, were gone. In fact, the thieves were making preparations to steal the murals, too, but the authorities arrived just in time to stop the theft.

"Tomb robbers had already made preparations for removing the murals. The blue lines that were drawn to divide the murals into sections for cutting and the gauze fabric used for reinforcing the murals before detachment still remain on the surface of the walls," Yan wrote. [Maya Murals: Stunning Images of King]

When authorities discovered the tomb, a team of scholars from several Chinese antiquities institutions began excavating the site and conserving the murals. Based on these murals and the tomb design, along with a few remaining grave goods, the scientists determined the tomb dates back nearly 1,500 years, to the Northern Qi Dynasty.

A military commander

Archaeologists believe the couple buried at the site consisted of a military commander, in charge of the Shuozhou City area, and his wife. This makes sense given the date of the tomb.

Historians know that at the time this couple lived, three rival dynasties battled for control of China. The buried commander served the Northern Qi, a short-lived dynasty that lasted between A.D. 550 and 577, when it was conquered by another group of rulers known as the "Northern Zhou."

Needless to say, military leaders were in high demand at this time, and military experience was the key to obtaining power.

"The Zhou and Qi states both exemplified military dynasticism," Stanford University professor Mark Edward Lewis wrote in his book "China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties" (Harvard University Press, 2009). "Their rulers had risen through military service and based their powers on a central army," he writes.

In such an environment, it appears, a local military commander could afford a finely decorated tomb for the afterlife.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Buried in ancient Chinese tombs, money trees are bronze sculptures believed to provide eternal prosperity in the afterlife.

One money tree was crafted in southwest China during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE). Supported by a ceramic base, this rare piece of art stands 52 inches tall and spans 22 inches wide. Dragons and phoenixes — symbols of longevity — and coins decorate the tree's 16 bronze leaves.

The Portland Art Museum acquired the tree as a gift from a private collection. There was little information available about the tree and no documentation as to the time or place of its excavation. It was also unclear whether the tree had all of its original parts from the Han Dynasty or if replacement parts had been added. Nor were the artistic details fully visible, due to layers of corrosion.

The museum partnered with assistant professor of chemistry Tami Lasseter Clare and her team from Portland State University to learn more about the tree and its mysterious past.

Clare had several goals:  identify points of breakage in the tree and determine how to prevent breakage in the future;  identify the tree's material composition to see if it dated to the Han Dynasty;  identify the corrosion products and layers of materials that accumulated over time and, determine if all parts of the tree were original.

The benefits of this research are largely educational, Clare said. "Many major museums employ scientists who study similar issues; however, no museums in the Pacific Northwest do. This project was a rare opportunity to collaborate with the Portland Art Museum and to demonstrate what 'secrets' can be learned using scientific methods." Clare also explained that some of the research findings are featured in an exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, "which is an exciting outcome for this work."

Clare and her team used various techniques to "look beneath the surface" of the tree and determine the chemical composition. They used X-radiography, which is an imaging technique that uses X-rays to study an object or materials' structure and composition. The X-rays pass through different parts of the sample object or material and an image is recorded based on how the varying parts of the sample absorb radiation. The images are displayed in different tones depending on the intensity of the X-ray. This process is especially useful for examining metal objects, such as the tree, covered by corrosion, as well as paintings with multiple layers of paint, biological samples and other objects and materials with multiple layers.

Using this technique, the team identified weaknesses and cracks in the tree and areas that needed extra reinforcement and handling care. This information also helped determine areas of the tree that might be prone to future breakage.

In addition, the team used X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy to identify the tree's chemical composition and the encrustations, or what Clare explains are "the layers of material that adhered to its branches as a result of its presumed burial, often composed of sand, calcite and corrosion products." XRF is specifically used to find the elemental composition of solid materials using an X-ray beam, and FTIR is used to determine various types of infrared spectrums that can identify and study chemicals.

These techniques helped the team learn valuable information about the money tree and its history. They determined it was made using cast bronze, each piece of the tree produced via molten bronze set in a two-part mold.

They also learned that the tree was buried in the ground at some point. Clare observed "thin, almost hair-like roots" that grew within or on top of the encrustation layers of the tree. Some of the roots were covered in a crust of calcite, or calcium carbonate. Further evidence that the tree was buried included some of the corrosion products on the tree — azurite (a copper mineral) and malachite (a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral) — which are common minerals found on bronze objects buried in the ground.

Although encrustations and corrosion products helped prove that the tree spent time underground, they were covering artistic details of the tree. Using X-radiography, the team learned that encrustations covered the entire figures of two monkeys holding bananas, and also the outlines of dragon gills and eyes that form the "foliage" on the branches.

Encrustations were not the only additions that transformed the tree over time.

The team determined that the tree was repaired numerous times in the past with replacement parts that did not match the originals. The replacement parts were made with a different method, had a different chemical composition and lacked the design detail of the original.

"The numerous and distinct repair methods suggest that the [tree] may have changed hands several times, though the record of ownership is not known," said Clare.

Instead of bronze casting, the repairers manufactured replacement parts using mechanical cutting tools and abrasives. They attached the pieces to the original tree using lead-tin solder, a fusible metal alloy. Via X-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy, the team also learned that the chemical composition of the replacement parts was different than the composition of the original. These tenons — pieces that fit into notches and attach branches to the trunk or one another — were more likely to break because they carried the weight of the branches.

While those who repaired the tree attempted to make the replacement parts blend in with the original, their efforts were ultimately in vain.

"Interestingly, the replaced parts had been painted to match the blues and greens of corroded bronze and the white color of the encrustation layers, showing that whoever made the replacements didn't want those pieces to be visibly different from the others, probably to increase the market value of the tree," said Clare.

Currently the money tree is at the Portland Art Museum as part of an exhibition, "Cornerstones of a Great Civilization," which features Chinese art masterpieces. The exhibition will run through Nov. 12, 2012.

Editor's Note: The researchers depicted in Behind the Scenes articles have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. See the Behind the Scenes Archive.

Buried deep under a hill in central China, surrounded by an underground moat of poisonous mercury, lies an entombed emperor who's been undisturbed for more than two millennia.

The tomb holds the secrets of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who died on Sept. 10, 210 B.C., after conquering six warring states to create the first unified nation of China.

The answers to a number of historical mysteries may lie buried inside that tomb, but whether modern people will ever see inside this mausoleum depends not just on the Chinese government, but on science.

"The big hill, where the emperor is buried — nobody's been in there," said archaeologist Kristin Romey, curatorial consultant for the Terracotta Warrior exhibition at New York City’s Discovery Times Square. "Partly it's out of respect for the elders, but they also realize that nobody in the world right now has the technology to properly go in and excavate it."

The Terracotta Warrior exhibition, featuring artifacts from the Qin dynasty and nine life-size statues from the extended burial complex built for Qin Shi Huang, is on display through Aug. 26. [Photos: Terracotta Warriors Protect Secret Tomb]

The warring states

Qin Shi Huang (pronounced "chin shuh hwang") was born in 259 B.C., first son to the king of Qin, one of six independent kingdoms inside modern China. These kingdoms had been warring for more than 200 years, but through a combination of military strength, strategy and natural disasters, Qin Shi Huang conquered them all, proclaiming himself not just a king, but also an emperor — the first of China.

Scholars still debate the details of how this occurred, and what unique tactics allowed the Qin emperor to achieve what no one had managed before.

When he died, Qin Shi Huang was buried in the most opulent tomb complex ever constructed in China, a sprawling, city-size collection of underground caverns containing everything the emperor would need for the afterlife. The ancient Chinese, along with many cultures including ancient Egyptians, believed that items and even people buried with a person could be taken with him to the afterlife.

But instead of burying his armies, concubines, administrators and servants with him, the Qin emperor came up with an alternative: clay reproductions.

Shocking discovery

In 1974, a group of farmers digging wells near Xi'an, China stumbled upon one of the most shocking archaeological discoveries of all time. The life-size terracotta solider they dug out of the ground turned out to be just one of an army of thousands, each utterly unique, with individual clothing, hair and facial features.

For almost four decades, archaeologists have been excavating the site. So far, they've uncovered about 2,000 clay soldiers, but experts estimate there are more than 8,000 in total.

"They're going to be digging there for centuries," Romey predicted.

Still, scientists have yet to touch the central tomb, which holds a palace containing the body of Qin Shi Huang.

"It's really smart what the Chinese government is doing," Romey told LiveScience. "When we went into [Egyptian King] Tut's tomb, think about all the information we lost just based on the excavation techniques of the 1930s. There's so much additional that we could have learned, but the techniques back then weren’t what we have now."

"Even though we may think we have great archaeological excavation techniques right now," she said, "who knows, a century down the road if we open this tomb, what they're going to say?"

To open the tomb?

The decision whether to explore the tomb anytime soon, or ever, is up to the government of China. That decision will likely be influenced by the pace of technological progress.

"In archaeological conservation, every year you have major new developments," Romey said. "When we began excavating [the soldiers] in the '70s, the minute they were exposed to air and sunlight, the pigment just flaked off. Now they’ve figured out a new technique where they can actually preserve the paint as they excavate."

Perhaps, if science advances enough, that excavation wouldn't cause serious damage to the burial site, and the tomb will finally be opened. [Album: The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World]

"I wouldn’t be surprised if you had some sort of robotic visual survey going in there at some point," Romey said.

And despite their desire to protect the treasures of antiquity, archaeologists are itching with curiosity to find out what's inside Qin Shi Huang's central tomb.

Rivers of mercury

Ancient writings say the emperor created an entire underground kingdom and palace, complete with a ceiling mimicking the night sky, set with pearls as stars. Pits full of terracotta concubines have never been discovered, though experts predict they exist somewhere in the complex.

And Qin Shi Huang's tomb is also thought to be encircled with rivers of liquid mercury, which the ancient Chinese believed could bestow immortality.

"It's kind of ironic," Romey said. "This is probably how he died, by ingesting mercury. He was taking all these mercury pills because he wanted to live forever and it killed him by the age of 39."

That moat of mercury also presents another reason why archaeologists are loath to explore the tomb just yet — doing so would likely be very dangerous, according to soil samples around the tomb, which indicate extremely high levels of mercury contamination.

In the end, scientists and historians must always weigh their desire to know more with the damage such inquiry would cause.

"Archaeology, ultimately, is a destructive science," Romey said. "You have to destroy stuff in order to learn about it."

Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Terracotta Warrior

An army of clay warriors guards the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who died in 210 BC. The tomb is still under excavation near Xi'an, China.

NYC Exhibition

Nine life-size statues are on display at the Terracotta Warrior exhibition at New York City’s Discovery Times Square. China lets only 10 of the warriors leave the country at any given time.

Terracotta Horse

Emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried with everything he needed for the afterlife, including an army complete with life-size clay horses.

Stone General

This terracotta warrior is thought to represent a general who would have commanded the footsoldiers.

Thousands of Warriors

About 2,000 terracotta soldiers have been excavated from Qin Shi Huang's tomb so far, but archaeologists say there could be a total of around 8,000.

Bureaucrat for the Afterlife

The first Qin emperor needed not just soldiers, but bureaucrats like this one, to run his kingdom in the afterlife.

Stone Horse

Even the horses in the massive terracotta army were each unique; no two were alike.

Terracotta Soldier's Armor

Even though they number in the thousands, each terracotta soldier has painstakingly detailed armor, facial features, hair and clothing.

Wildlife for the Afterlife

The ancient emperor's afterlife wouldn't be complete without a menagerie of animals to populate his pleasure grounds.

Shocking Find

These clay statues stood undisturbed for more than two millennia before being discovered by Chinese farmers in 1974.

About 1,800 years ago, at a time when China was breaking apart into three warring kingdoms, a warrior was laid to rest.

Buried in a tomb with domed roofs, along with his wife, he was about 45 years old when he died. Their skeletal remains were found inside two wooden coffins that had rotted away. Archaeologists don't know their names but, based on the tomb design and grave goods, they believe he was a general who had served one or more of the country's warring lords, perhaps Cao Cao and his son Cao Pi.

His tomb was discovered in Xiangyang, a city that, in the time of the Three Kingdoms, was of great strategic importance. Rescue excavations started in October 2008 and now the discovery is detailed in the most recent edition of the journal Chinese Archaeology. (The report had appeared earlier, in Chinese, in the journal Wenwu.)

The rescue operation, carried out by the Xiangyang Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, uncovered many treasures in the tomb. One of the biggest finds was a life-size bronze horse, the largest ever found in China.It measures 5.3 feet long and by 5.3 feet tall (163 cm by 163 cm). "The horse figurine is in standing posture, has erected ears, protruded eyes, opened mouth, long and broad neck, upright mane and drooped tail," writes archaeologist Liu Jiangsheng. [Photos of Three Kingdoms' Tomb & Grave Goods]

The tomb also held a highly detailed glazed pottery model of a two-story mansion surrounded by an enclosing wall with a gateway. The gate has two main doors, each decorated with a door knocker ring and two "feathered" human figurines. Bear motifs were found in many decorations on the house.

Pottery houses like these are well known from the preceding Han Dynasty, although detailed multi-story houses are rare. Architect Qinghua Guo, a professor at the University of Melbourne, writes that models like these are helpful in reconstructing what houses in ancient China may have looked like.

"Literary descriptions of the buildings of ancient China lead us to believe that it (had) a highly developed architecture, but actual remains are rare and fragmentary," Guo writes in the book "The Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China 206 B.C. – A.D. 220" (Sussex Academic Press, 2010). "The images of those perished buildings were not totally lost, surviving as miniature models in ancient tombs."

More treasures – beautiful and gross

The treasures found in this tomb go on and on, gold and silver disks, crystal and agate beads, gold bracelets, just to name a few.

Among the finds is a jade pig figurine, his snout finely detailed, the tiny animal having apparently gone to sleep. Another work of art shows a glazed pottery figurine of a dog barking furiously while standing on all fours.

Yet another piece shows a beastly tomb guardian, his long tongue sticking out and, grossly enough, "a crawling animal is attached onto the tip of the tongue," Jiangsheng writes. [10 Weird Ways We Deal With the Dead]

There's much more.

A bronze mirror was found with a round knob in the center. The mirror is decorated with elaborate patterns that include depictions of the phoenix and even a kui, or a one-legged demon. Two inscriptions were found on the artifact, one reads (in translation) "To benefit the Descendents Forever," while another reads, "May the Holder Get the Position of the Three Dukes." The Three Dukes were the three most powerful officials, below the emperor, in ancient China.

Like any good warrior, the general made sure he was well equipped for the afterlife. Bronze and iron sabers were found in the tomb along with a bronze crossbow trigger still, after 1,800 years, in good condition.

The Three Kingdoms

The Three Kingdoms period is one of the most celebrated periods of Chinese history. It saw the end of the 400-year-long Han Dynasty and the emergence of the kingdoms of Wei, Wu and Shu.

There are frequent references to it in popular culture. A 14th-century historical novel called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is considered one of the most popular works ever written in Chinese. Also movies like "Red Cliff" and a series of video games produced by Koei have brought this period further attention in both China and the West.

While researchers do not know who this general was, or who he fought for, they believe from the artifacts and architecture found that he was laid to rest early in the Three Kingdoms period, which formally started in A.D. 220. Furthermore accounts by historians indicate that Xiangyang where he was buried occupied a strategic area that allowed armies access between northern and southern parts of the country.

Toward the end of the Han Dynasty the city was controlled by Liu Biao, technically a governor of Jing Province, although in practice he was independent of the Han court. He held onto the city until his death in A.D. 208, after which the armies of Cao Cao approached the city and the governorship was surrendered. Cao Cao would then use the city as a base for his drive south, a campaign that would end in his defeat at the hands of Liu Bei and Sun Quan at the Battle of Red Cliffs. 

Even after the defeat the city of Xiangyang remained in Cao Cao's hands although an attempt to take it was made in AD 219 by Guan Yu, a Chinese general still revered today.

In A.D. 220 Cao Cao died and was succeeded by his son Cao Pi, who proclaimed himself emperor although his forces did not control the whole country. The fighting between the three kingdoms would go on for several decades more and long after Cao Pi's early death in A.D. 226.

Yet throughout Cao Pi's rule Xiangyang appears to have remained in his hands, leaving open the possibility that the general buried in the newly discovered tomb was one of his retainers, allowed to have a grand tomb, with treasures, for the afterlife.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.