Archaeologists Uncovered the Oldest Section of the Great Wall of China Yet
This new find is part of the larger oldest part of the Great Wall—known as the Great Wall of Qi, it's named for the Qi state that rose to power before China became a unified nation.
Older, narrower parts of this ancient fortification are made of packed earth and stone, while the newer, wider parts were made of yellow earth strengthened by metal rammers.
Winding 21,196 kilometers (12,171 miles) from the east to the midwest of northern China, the Great Wall of China has remained standing for thousands of years, through the bloodshed and devastation of war after war. Now, a newly excavated part of the fortification meant to fend off the Huns (and later Mongols) pushes the beginnings of the construction of the Great Wall 300 years earlier than previously believed.
An excavation led by archaeologist Zhang Su of the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has unearthed the most ancient section of the Great Wall of Qi, which is 641 km (almost 400 mi) long and already the oldest known part of the wall. It took Zhang and his team from May to December of 2024 to carry out an excavation that spanned about 11,840 square feet. This section of the Qi Wall has been previously surveyed and investigated, but never actually excavated before.
The Great Wall of China, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was constructed using different methods during different time periods, and this excavation showed the evidence. Techniques such as carbon-14 dating and optically stimulated luminescence (which reveals when grains of soil were deposited and blocked from exposure to light or heat) showed that the earliest parts of the Qi Wall were built as far back as the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C. - 256 B.C.) and continued to rise during the overlapping Warring States Period (475 B.C. - 221B.C.).
The land that is now China was not always united as one state. There used to be separate states, and during the earliest days of Qi wall construction, the Zhou Dynasty ruled over them. This was an era when art and literature flourished, and also the time of renowned philosopher Confucius (the Spring and Autumn Period is named after his work known as The Spring and Autumn Annals). Early parts of the wall erected at the time were about 33 feet wide.
Around 480 B.C., the Zhou Dynasty crumbled as tensions rose between the states. This led to the Warring States Period—three centuries of continuous clashes as each state vied to conquer the land. The later, better-preserved parts of the Qi wall were as wide as 98 feet, but they could not preserve the Qi state. Ultimately, the Qin state dominated China.
It is thought that the concept of a larger Great Wall can be traced to the defensive border walls erected by each state to keep out potential invaders. These early walls were made mostly of packed stone and earth, much like this older section of the Great Wall. The most durable part of the newly discovered segment of wall—built from yellow earth strengthened with metal rammers—aligns with the height of the Qi state's power.
Also found at the archaeological site were the remains of semi-subterranean homes that Zhang's team thinks made up a settlement that was built before the wall and meant to defend the Yellow River (on the banks of which the capital of the Zhou Dynasty once stood). Pingyin City—an ancient settlement near the Qi Wall and supposedly a Qi State stronghold that used to only exist in historical texts—was also discovered during the excavation.
"The layout, location, and associated infrastructure of the Great Wall of Qi reflect the Qi State's advanced military planning and strategic response to external threats,' Zhang told the Chinese newspaper Global Times. 'Its close connection to Pingyin indicates that the wall served not only as a defense mechanism but also played a strategic role in controlling key transportation routes.'
Over time, the Great Wall of China would not just be used for military defense, but also to protect the beginnings of the Silk Road—a trade route with branches that spread from China through the Middle East and all the way to ancient Rome. The Great Wall took two millennia to build, and continues to survive as a reminder of a great empire that refused to fall.
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National Geographic
4 days ago
- National Geographic
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Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Earth's magnetic field is weakening — magnetic crystals from lost civilizations could hold the key to understanding why
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Related: Major 'magnetic anomaly' discovered deep below New Zealand's Lake Rotorua So Shaar worked hard to give them more evidence. After they had analyzed and described samples from around the region for more than a decade, the anomaly was accepted by the research community and named the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA). From about 1100 to 550 B.C., the magnetic field emanating from the Middle East fluctuated in intense surges. Shaar and Ben-Yosef were using a relatively new technique called archaeomagnetism. With this method, geophysicists can peer into the magnetic particles inside archaeological materials like metal waste, pottery and building stone to recreate Earth's magnetic past. This technique has some advantages over traditional methods of reconstructing Earth's magnetic field, particularly for studying the relatively recent past. Generally, scientists study Earth's past magnetic field by looking at snapshots captured in rocks as they cooled into solids. 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The inverse of the large lobes that funnel the magnetic field into the planet at the North Pole, this 'positive' flux patch would have pushed the field out in a powerful burst. Others believed the single flux patch didn't travel, instead multiple grew under the Levant, erupted, and decayed in place. Still, no theories can explain why the flux patch developed in the first place. With the most up-to-date archaeomagnetic data, geomagnetist Pablo Rivera at the Complutense University of Madrid published a paper in January that simulated both the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly and the South Atlantic Anomaly. By modeling their movement over time, his work suggested that both anomalies may have been influenced by a superplume underneath Africa — a massive blob of hot rock on the barrier between the core and the mantle that may disrupt the flow of the geodynamo below it. However, much is still unknown. "So far, there is not a single simulation that really describes all the [magnetic] features that we see well," Korte told Live Science. Many archaeomagnetic data points from around the globe suggest there may be more intensity spikes that could help resolve the mystery and create a unifying theory to explain the SAA, the LIAA and other spikes. But there currently isn't enough data to describe them accurately, or even begin to understand their causes. "We don't really understand what causes these anomalies, but we hope to learn more about how the geodynamo operates and what kinds of changes we also can expect for the future magnetic field," Korte said. This certainty is needed now more than ever, as more of our communications take to the skies. More than 13,500 satellites currently orbit Earth — a dramatic increase from only around 3,000 in 2020. The Government Accountability Agency estimates that another 54,000 satellites will launch by 2030. These satellites monitor weather patterns, send phone and TV signals, and create GPS. Satellites are generally protected from space radiation by Earth's magnetic field. But in places where the field is weaker, such as above the South Atlantic Anomaly, satellites have more memory problems as radiation bombards onboard computers and corrupts data. Filling out the picture Despite the expense and technical challenges of archaeomagnetism, there are many initiatives to expand the amount of data. In the U.S., the Institute for Rock Magnetism is expanding its archaeomagnetism program to begin building a more thorough history of the magnetic field in the Midwest, hoping to build their own localized dating system using archaeomagnetism, similar to the record Shaar and his collaborators have built in the Levant. RELATED STORIES —Weird dent in Earth's magnetic field is messing with auroras in the Southern Hemisphere —Earth's magnetic field formed before the planet's core, study suggests —Why do magnets have north and south poles? Interest in archaeomagnetism is also growing around the globe. The first archaeomagnetism data from Cambodia was published in 2021, and the first regional model of the magnetic field of Africa for the recent past was published in 2022. As the field of archaeomagnetism grows, scientists can start building a better understanding of how features like superplumes affect the magnetic field. The past 50 or so years of data has captured "only a really tiny snapshot in time," Shaar said, and "maybe there are more [anomalies] to find." Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
14-07-2025
- New York Post
Archaeologists uncover multistory buildings in once-thriving city lost to time
Archaeologists recently uncovered multistory buildings from a lost Egyptian city in the Nile Delta, fostering new insights into urban life in antiquity. The ruins of the city – known in ancient times as Imet or Buto – are located at the site now called Tell el-Fara'in. The University of Manchester announced the discovery in a June 24 press release. Multiple excavations have taken place at the site in past decades, but the latest dig by British archaeologists revealed the presence of multiple multistory structures. 6 British archaeologists from the University of Manchester discover ancient city of Imet in Egypt's eastern Nile Delta, shedding lights on urban life in antiquity De Agostini via Getty Images The elevated dwellings were found thanks to a combination of remote sensing and satellite imagery technology, said the University of Manchester. The British archaeologists were joined by experts from the University of Sadat City in Cairo. The high-tech methods led researchers to notice clusters of 'ancient mudbricks' before the excavation began. The university reported, 'This approach led to the discovery of dense architectural remains, including substantial tower houses – multistory buildings supported by exceptionally thick foundation walls, which were designed to accommodate a growing population in an increasingly urbanized Delta region.' University of Manchester lecturer Nicky Nielsen helped lead the excavation. 6 A statue depicting two deities, discovered from the archaeological excavations in Buto De Agostini via Getty Images In a statement, he dated the structures to the Ptolemaic Period, which began around 332 B.C. and ended in 30 B.C. 'These tower houses are mainly found in the Nile Delta between the Late Period and the Roman era, and are rare elsewhere in Egypt,' the Egyptologist said. 'Their presence here shows that Imet was a thriving and densely built city with a complex urban infrastructure.' Archaeologists also uncovered the remains of granaries, or buildings for storing grain, as well as a ceremonial road tied to the cult of Wadjet, the Ancient Egyptian cobra goddess. 6 The excavations at Tell el-Fara'in are part of a joint Egyptian-British mission with the University of Sadat City in Cairo University of Manchester Animal enclosures were also observed during the excavation, as well as a series of additional buildings. 'Elsewhere, excavators found a large building with a limestone plaster floor and massive pillars dating to the mid-Ptolemaic Period,' the University of Manchester noted. 'This building was built across the processional road, which once connected to the temple of Wadjet – the city's patron deity,' the statement continued. 6 Multiple excavations have taken place at the site in past decades, but this latest dig by the University of Manchester crew revealed the presence of multiple multistory structures University of Manchester 'This ceremonial route appears to have fallen out of use by the mid-Ptolemaic period, offering insight into shifting religious landscapes in Ancient Egypt.' Smaller artifacts were also uncovered by archaeologists. 6 'Their presence here shows that Imet was a thriving and densely built city with a complex urban infrastructure,' said University of Manchester lecturer Nicky Nielsen, who helped lead the excavations University of Manchester Pictures from the excavation show an ushabti (a small funerary figurine), a stone slab depicting the god Harpocrates and a bronze sistrum, or rattle, of Hathor, the goddess of music and joy. The excavation will help advance understanding of 'the urban, religious and economic life of this city in the Nile Delta during the 4th century BC,' according to university officials. 6 Artifacts from the excavation site reflect a vibrant spiritual culture of the ancient Egyptian city University of Manchester 'This discovery opens new doors to our understanding of daily life, spirituality and urban planning in the Delta,' the statement concluded. 'Imet is emerging as a key site for rethinking the archaeology of Late Period Egypt.' Ancient Egypt has captivated archaeologists for centuries, and many finds from the millennia-old civilization are still being discovered today. In May, several tombs of high-ranking Ancient Egyptian officials were recently uncovered by local archaeologists, dating back to the era of the New Kingdom. A month earlier, a University of Pennsylvania professor spoke with Fox News Digital about unearthing the tomb of an unknown pharaoh near Abydos.
