Astronomy goes back 5,000 years
Print Edition
Senior Chinese archeologists have concluded astronomical relics discovered in central China鈥檚 Henan Province are the country鈥檚 earliest evidence of 鈥渙bserving images and giving time.鈥
The relics are the 鈥淏ig Dipper Nine Stars鈥 marker at the 5,000-year-old Qingtai Ruins in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital.
More than 30 astronomers, historians and archeologists from the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of History of Natural Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the National Palace Museum were invited to the site to give their evaluations of the ruins last week.
They believe the astronomical relics and the surrounding sacrificial remains constitute a whole, which is consistent with the records of the 鈥淲inter Solstice Sacrifice鈥 in ancient Chinese documents.
It is of great significance to the study of early Chinese astronomy and the origin of Chinese civilization.
The experts said the relic indicates that the ancestors of Qingtai had some astronomical knowledge and the worship of the celestial body may have formed a grand sacrificial ceremony for observing the solar terms and praying for a good harvest.
Gu Wanfa, president of the Zhengzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, said that Qingtai is a large-scale trench settlement in the Yangshao Culture period (5000-3000 BC), with a total area of about 310,000 square meters.
He said nine pottery pots were arranged in the 鈥淏ig Dipper Nine Stars鈥 pattern.
They were surrounded by urn coffins of the same period, tombs, mortars and sacrificial pits of different periods and other related relics.
Previous to Qingtai, the Taosi Observatory in Xiangfen County, northern China鈥檚 Shanxi Province, of 4,200 years ago, represented the earliest evidence of the study of the astronomical calendar in ancient China. The semi-round foundation can be reconstructed as a three-level altar.
The experts suggested researching the relationship between the two astronomical relics and functions of the relics.
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