According to the conventional view of history, humans have only walked the Earth in our present form for some 200,000 years. Advanced civilizations appeared several thousand years ago, but much of the mechanical ingenuity we know in modern times began to develop only around the Industrial Revolution
The 14th-century city escaped the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. Simon Willis walks its narrow alleys
The Olmec Yogis A few years back, in course of a long trip through Mexico, I visited the La Venta Museum in Villahermosa. The open-air museum has an enticing collection of Olmec sculptures, including three colossal Olmec stone heads. The artifacts had been moved here from the Olmec settlement of […]
5,000 years old and still in fashion
New research has revealed that prehistoric people of China were beer drinkers. Tests have just confirmed residue on vessels that indicate the presence of beer 5,000 years ago in Shaanxi Province in northern China, making it the earliest known beer brewing operation in China. In 2004, researchers found indications of an alcoholic concoction made from honey, some type of fruit and rice that dated back at least 8,600 years.
Cave dwellings have been found in many regions of the world. These caves served as dwellings and as places of worship and were usually combined with surface structures. After the cave cities ceased to be inhabited, the surface structures fell into ruin and only the caves remained. Not all cave dwell
Throughout history, Chinese culture has rivaled and many times surpassed other, more famous empires -- but many of their achievements are less known, at least in "the West". You may very well be familiar with
Fragrance has been entrancing and beguiling us for millennia. 5,000 years, at least: hieroglyphics in Egyptian tombs show that Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians were making perfume, as long ago as 3,000 BC. The first perfumers, Egyptian priests, used aromatic resins to sweeten the smell of sacrificial offerings. People believed that burning incense connected humans with the...
What of the African presence in early China? Have there been Black people in China? If so, what became of them? What happened to the Black people of early China?
Similarities in ancient art and artifacts found in China and Peru have led some scholars to suggest an ancient link between the two cultures. Now a Chinese scientist will be undertaking genetic testing of remains of ancient Chinese people and Peruvians to determine whether South America was visited by Shang Dynasty people beginning around 1,000 BC.
In November last year, the translation of a 500-year-old document answered one of the greatest mysteries surrounding the Forbidden City in Beijing, China – how the ancient people managed to transport stones weighing more than 330 tonnes over 70 kilometres. Until now it was believed that they were transported on wheels, however, the ancient document showed that this was not the case at all.
Researchers in China have discovered six complete ancient flutes made of bone belonging to the Neolithic period carbon dated to about 9,000 years old. Fragments of many more flutes were found in the same area too. The flutes are complete playable flutes made of the bones of the red-crowned crane with five to eight holes.
The Sogdians were a people of Iranian origin who lived in the fertile valleys of Central Asia between the sixth century BC and tenth century AD. The secret to the Sogdians’ success was their knack for commerce. Building cities in what is today Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the Sogdian merchants became vital go-betweens for trade on the Silk Road.
A thigh bone found in China suggests an ancient species of human thought to be long extinct may have survived until as recently as the end of the last Ice Age. The 14,000 year old bone -- found among the remains of China's enigmatic 'Red Deer Cave people' -- has been shown to have features that resemble those of some of the most ancient members of the human genus, Homo, despite its young age.
New archaeological finds shed light on Qin Shi Huang’s (first Emperor of China) quest for eternal life.
A civilization is a complex human society that may have certain characteristics of cultural and technological development.
To most of the western world, China has always been a mystery, a teeming mass of people in crowded cities, threatening to expand over its borders impelled by its own growth. In fact, while the Han Chinese are the majority of the population, there are over fifty officially recognized ethnic…
Millions of people across China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and other countries around the world are today celebrating the Lunar New Year and welcoming in the Year of the Tiger as part of an ancient custom
Archaeologists in Datong City, in northern China, have discovered a tomb with colorful murals on the walls dating back around 1,000 years.
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Han purple, an artificial pigment created by the Chinese over 2,500 years ago, was used in ancient artworks such as wall paintings, the famed terracotta warriors, ceramics, metalware and jewelry.
What could be considered an ancient motivational meme which reads “be cheerful, live your life” in ancient Greek has been discovered on a centuries-old mosaic found during excavation works in the southern province of Hatay
Four sets of mysterious human-like fossils found in China may offer insight into a previously unknown Stone Age people, according to an international team of scientists.
