Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: December 18, 2002
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_122252,0005.htm
Contact between the East and West
probably began more than 5,000 years ago - 3,000 years earlier than previously
thought, according to Chinese archaeologists.
New research on relics unearthed
along the famous silk road, an ancient commercial route linking China and
Central Asia, has lead to the conclusion, Xinhua news agency reported on
Wednesday.
Li Shuicheng, a professor of archaeology
at Beijing University, said many people held that east-west exchanges started
after the opening of the silk road over 2,000 years ago, but recent archaeological
discoveries showed the date was much earlier.
Li said that a dozen mace heads
dating back between 3,000 and 5,000 years, extremely similar to those used
by kings of ancient Egypt, had been excavated in northwest China.
The oldest of the mace heads found
in Gansu, Shaanxi and Xinjiang in northwest China date back 5,500 years,
Li said.
"Many experts share the view that
the mace heads were not a product of ancient Chinese civilisation, but
were transported from the west," said Li.
Most mace heads unearthed in northwest
China are made of stone, jade or bronze, and are in the shape of balls,
peaches and pentagrams. Some of them even carry coloured drawings.
Their shapes and functions were
surprisingly similar to those of ancient Egypt, Li told an international
symposium on the silk road sponsored by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation, held in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi
province.
Professor Victor H Mair, of the
University of Pennsylvania, US praised Li's view as "brave," "just" and
"objective."
