Ruins in Nara likely site of largest settlement in 4th century

Researchers are excavating what could have been one of the nation's largest settlements in the fourth century.

Remains of pit houses and other dugout facilities unearthed at the Nakanishi 
archaeological site in Gose, Nara Prefecture, on Aug. 19 
[Credit: Kazuto Tsukamoto]

The Archaeological Institute of Kashihara said Aug. 19 it has uncovered remains of pit houses and ditches that marked out boundaries at a site known as the Nakanishi ruins.

Researchers hope the discovery will help fill in missing blanks about the region's history.

“The site occupies a prominent area,” said Fumiaki Imao, a senior researcher at the institute, adding that the structures may have been used for rituals under the direct control of the early Yamato imperial court.

The site is adjacent to the famous Akitsu ruins, which yielded evidence of many large and unique structures dating from early fourth century during the Kofun Period.

According to the researchers, the two sites were possibly constructed in an integrated manner. If so, they would constitute one of the largest settlements known from that era.

Little is known about the workings of the Yamato imperial court during the fourth century, and researchers said they hope the excavation project will help shed light on the period.

An artist's rendition of the Akitsu and Nakanishi archaeological sites 
during the Kofun Period (third century to seventh century) 
[Credit: Archaeological Institute of Kashihara]

Among the finds at the Nakanishi ruins are 26 dugout facilities that measure 3 meters by 3 meters to 6.5 meters by 6.5 meters, as well as ditches ranging in width from 30 centimeters to 1 meter that were created to mark out boundaries.

From 2009, researchers realized that many structures at the Akitsu ruins were similar to those at Ise Jingu shrine, along with remains of board fences that surrounded those facilities. The area of interest stretches 150 meters east to west and 100 meters north to south, making it likely the structures were used as religious facilities.

The Nakanishi ruins are located southwest of the Akitsu site and face almost the same direction, researchers said.

That suggests religious facilities and residential structures used to stand in an organized way within an area measuring more than 200 meters east-west and 400 meters north-south that straddle the two archaeological sites.

Hironobu Ishino, an archaeologist who is honorary director of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Archaeology, noted that the southwestern part of the Nara basin used to be ruled by the powerful Katsuragi family.

“The latest discoveries could represent the family’s exclusive ritual facilities,” he said.

Author: Kazuto Tsukamoto | Source: The Asahi Shimbun [August 20, 2015]

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First Chinese murals might date back more than 4,000 years

A group of recently-discovered murals hinted that the basic production process and rendering techniques used to make Chinese murals might be more than 4,000 years old.

Mural unearthed at the Shimao ruins 
[Credit: China Daily]

Since 2011, continuous excavations by Chinese archaeologists have found some 200 pieces of colorful murals in the Shimao Ruins, the largest completed urban construction in China dating from the late Neolithic (4,600 - 4,000 years ago) age in Shenmu county, Shaanxi province.

The Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology recently issued a report on the discovery, saying that following lab experiments and analysis, the basic production process and rendering techniques used on the murals in Shimao Ruin were similar to those used to make frescoes dating from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) and later dynasties. This indicates that the process and techniques were in use more than 4,000 years ago.

Archaeologists found traces of pigment layers on a mural that indicates brush-like tools were used to make the mural, even though the brush is considered to have been invented by Meng Tian, a general in the Qin Dynasty (221 – 207 BC).

The Shimao ruins in Shaanxi Province [Credit: Shaanxi Provincial 
Archaeological Research Institute]

"The history of using the brush by Chinese people will be rewritten if the tool used to make the mural is confirmed to be a brush," experts said.

The experts also noted that the types of pigments used for the murals were made of glauconite, which was found in the sea, but the Shimao Ruin is located on the Loess Plateau far from the sea.

"The source of the pigment is also a concerned matter for further research," experts said.

According to the historical record, Chinese murals were used to decorate housesfrom early on and used for tombs as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 771 BC). The murals were found mainly in North China, which indicates that the region was the birthplace of the Chinese mural, experts said.

Source: China Daily [August 19, 2015]

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Earliest use of coal fuel found at ancient site in NW China

Humans were burning coal as fuel more than 3,500 years ago, according to a remarkable new discovery in China.

The excavation site of Jiren Taigoukou ruins 
[Credit: Euro Pics(CEN)]

Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of coal being burned on an ancient site in the Xinjiang region, northwest China, dating back to the Bronze Age.

The new findings mean that humans were using coal about 500 years earlier than previously thought, reported the People's Daily Online.

An archaeologist shows samples of coal excavated from 
Jiren Taigoukou ruins [Credit: Euro Pics(CEN)]

Previously, the earliest recorded use of coal was at the Fushan mine, northeast China, in about 1,000 BC, where the fuel was used to smelt copper.

Researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology found traces of burnt coal at the ancient settlement in Ili Valley.

Archaeologists of Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology find coal-use 
traces at the excavation site [Credit: Euro Pics(CEN)]

Pits discovered at the Jiren Taigoukou Ruins Site indicate the coal may have been used to sustain fires in the village.

Archaeologists also found copper tools on the excavation site that may have been forged using the fuel.

Ceramic vase excavated from Jiren Taigoukou ruins 
[Credit: Euro Pics(CEN)]

Coal is abundant in the north and north west regions of the country, where woody vegetation is scarce compared to the south.

This may be why people in these areas would have used coal earlier than in other parts of the country, rather than just burning wood.

Copper blade excavated from Jiren Taigoukou ruins 
[Credit: Euro Pics(CEN)]

Experts believe that people in northern and western China were the first in the world to use coal regularly as an energy source.

But the commercial use of coal only became widespread during the Song Dynasty in the 11th century AD, when it replaced charcoal in the production of iron.

An archaeologist of Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology shows copper residue
 excavated from Jiren Taigoukou ruins [Credit: Euro Pics(CEN)]

In Europe, the Romans are believed to have used coal in Britain between 100 and 200 AD.

However, it was only until the 18th century that coal was used extensively in Britain as an energy source.

Author: Emily Chan | Source: Daily Mail Online [August 18, 2015]

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Researchers have string theory about use of ancient Japanese bells

Stirred and not shaken is how ancient bells may have been rung, researchers believe after discovering strings inside them for the first time in Japan.

String was found in a hole at the tip of the clapper of a "dotaku" bell unearthed 
in Minami-Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture [Credit: Nara National Research 
Institute for Cultural Properties]

“Some experts had insisted 'dotaku' (bells) made a sound by shaking them by hand, but the latest finding clearly shows they hanged from something when used,” said Yozo Nanba, director of the Center for Archaeological Operations of the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.

The strings were probably to hang the dotaku from tree branches, but also may have been used to set clappers inside the bells, according to the Aug. 12 announcement by the Hyogo prefectural education board.

The national research institute is currently CT scanning and dismantling two sets of small and large dotaku filled with sand. The bronze bells are among seven dotaku unearthed earlier this year in Minami-Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, that date to the early to mid-Yayoi Period (300 B.C.-100 B.C.).

After removing sand from a set containing a 32-centimeter-tall dotaku and one standing 23 cm, researchers discovered traces of strings twisted around the crowns of the two dotaku. They also found remains of string in holes at the tip of the clappers, which measured 13 cm and 8 cm in length.

Organic substances that appear to be rotted strings were found in the sand as well. The researchers said the antibacterial effects of copper ions likely helped the string maintain its basic shape.

While two of the three discovered strings, which were wound around the larger dotaku’s crown and clapper and each measured two millimeters thick, are twisted cords, or torsades, made of plant fiber, the remaining one for the clapper of the smaller dotaku is a four-millimeter-thick braid.

Leaves were also found inside the two dotaku. They were apparently mixed in when the instruments were buried, the researchers said.

The Nara research institute plans to determine when the dotaku were used and buried by analyzing the strings and applying carbon dating to them and the leaves. It will carefully dismantle the other set of dotaku at the same time.

Authors: Kunihiko Imai and Yosuke Akai | Source: The Asahi Shimbun [August 14, 2015]

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New Neolithic finds at China's Majiayao dig site

Archaeologists carrying out a large excavation project in Gansu province, at the Majiayao dig site, this August have discovered many pottery shards and stone implements which, they say, represent life in Neolithic communities along the upper reaches of the Yellow River during the Majiayao culture period (3,300-2,000 BC).

Archaeologist Zhang Xiaoru at the Majiayao site
[Credit: Xinhua/Chenbin]

The excavation is under the guidance of the Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Archaeology department, and the province's Archaeology Institute.

Neolithic artefacts found at the Majiayao site 
[Credit: Xinhua/Chenbin]

Majiayao culture came into being in the Late Neolithic period over 5,000 years ago and the site was first discovered by the Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson, in the 1920s, in the village of Majiayao. The State Council designated the area a key national relics protection unit, in 1988.

Source: People's Daily Online [August 14, 2015]

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