In 1965, Chinese #Archaeology discovered ancient tombs in Jingzhou
In one tomb, next to a human skeleton in a water-damaged casket, buried for over a 1000 years, was the Sword of Goujian
When it was unsheathed, its magnificent blade was found nearly untarnished & still sharp
On its side, in the ancient bird-worm seal script, was the inscription "King of Yue..made this sword for personal use"
After much debate, scholars settled on Goujian, King of Yue from 496 - 465 BCE, known for perseverance in adversity
(Currently in the Hubei Museum, Wuhan)
In 1982, a farmer Qu Xihuai found a gold tablet while collecting herbs in Songshan
News leaked & when collectors approached him, he gave it to the Cultural Relics dept. to appraise
Scholars there realised that it was a Heaven Official Golden Slip, a supplication to Daoist gods
It read "Lord of the Great Zhou Dynasty Wu Zhao", the infamous Wu Zetian, only woman to rule China
In April 700 CE, ten years after establishing a new dynasty, she'd written & thrown the slip down Songshan, hoping for divine forgiveness
Even as her own tomb stands, wordless
The "Feathered Men" or immortal Xian in Chinese lore (second pic, riding a dragon)
And high quality pics of the famed Kargali diadem of which I've only seen grainy black & white so far, in this great, brisk post #Archaeology
benedante.blogspot.com/2018/12/shaman…
Gold of the Great Steppes!
"The artefacts recovered from Eleke Sazy, including jewellery and horse harness ornaments, will be exhibited in Cambridge and are being studied by researchers using non-invasive tech" #Archaeology #Saka
standard.co.uk/news/uk/expert…
"Golden objects unearthed from ancient burial mounds built by the #Saka warrior people of central Asia (8th - 3rd century BCE), will showcase what the museum described as “an archaeological sensation” on the global stage for the first time #Archaeology #Kazakhstan
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