From June 2015 to 2017, Guangxi Provincial Institute of Heritage preservation and Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations to the Yahuai Cave site. In total, more than 40 square meters had been excavated, dates back to Palaeolithic period to Neolithic period. Yahuai Cave site is located on an isolated hill in the town of Qiaojian, Longan County, Guangxi Province.

The excavation at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

Remains and Assemblage

1. A Palaeolithic burial was found, with a complete human skull. The burial pit was roughly rectangular. The tomb dates back 16,000 years through Carbon-14 dating method.

A human skull found at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

2. Two fire-use evidences (fire pit or fireplace) were found in the Palaeolithic strata. One of them measured 3 m × 4 m, with more than 10 cm in thickness. The other one measured 40 cm × 90 cm, and nearly 10 cm in depth at the deepest part. From it charcoal debris, fired bones and stone artefacts were found.

The excavation at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

3. Phytolith remains of rice (Oryza sativa L.) uncovered from the Yahuai Cave, which dated approximately 16,000 years before the present. In addition, phytoliths likely belonging to rice dating back to 28,000-35,000 years ago were found.

Animal teeth remains found at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

4. Tens of thousands of artefacts were unearthed, and the assemblage comprises a large number of stone implements and several mussel shell, bone tools and pottery fragments, as well as abundant terrestrial animal and plant remains.

Xie Guangmao, a leading archaeologist from the Guangxi Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeological Institute, works at the Yahuai cave site in Longan, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

Stone artefacts were the main assemblage that were uncovered, with more than 10,000 pieces, including chipped and polished stone tools; Chipped stone tools accounted for the vast majority. Raw materials not only included common sandstone, quartzite and quartz, but also flint and tektite which is rarely seen in prehistoric sites of Guangxi. Stone implements included hammer, stone cores, stone flakes, broken blocks, debris and tools, etc. Flake stone tools were the most abundant; some of them had traces of usage. Chipped stone tools were mainly tiny flake tools, with lengths between 2cm to 5 cm.

Obsidian and flint tools found at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

In addition to stone products, a small amount of pottery, shell and bone tools were also found. Pottery shards were composed of sandy pottery with cord pattern and bare surface pottery, most of which were broken and difficult to distinguish shape. Shell tools were chipped and only clam knives were recognized. The only bone tools were bone awls. Remains of animals and plants were rich, including tens of thousands of aquatic and terrestrial animal bones and teeth, a large portion of which were small animal remains discovered through screening and flotation.

Phytolith remains of rice (Oryza sativa L.) found at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

Dating and Periodization

The site was primarily dated to 44,000-4,000 BP. Based on the stratification of strata, the characteristics of unearthed artifacts and the existing dating results, the remains can be roughly divided into four phases.

The excavation at the Yahuai cave site in Longan County, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Credit: China News Service/Zhong Xin]

Significance

1. New Type of Late Palaeolithic Archaeological Culture of Lingnan region

Most of the stone implements were tiny chipped stone tools belonging to the flake tool industry system, which is in contrast to the pebble tool tradition in the same region. The tiny stone-tools found at Yahuai Cave added new data for studying the relationship between the northern and southern cultures of the late Paleolithic culture in China.

2. Bridging the Prehistoric Culture Sequence in the You River Valley

A large number of remains were found in Yahuai Cave site dating to 44,000-10,000BP, most of which with precise culture strata, bridged the timeline of middle to late Palaeolithic culture in the You River Valley, thus further completing the prehistoric cultural sequence in Guangxi.

3. New Findings of Late Pleistocene Burial and Human Fossils in China.

Very few late Palaeolithic burial and human fossils have been found in China before, with a lack of exact dating. The burial at Yahuai Cave is the second one discovered in China after that at Upper Cave (Shandingdong site). The human fossils are of great academic value for studying the diversity of modern people, the migration and exchange of human populations in the late period of Late Pleistocene, and the burial customs in the late Palaeolithic Age.

4. Earliest Evidence of Humans Utilizing Wild Rice in the World

There is a long time in the use of wild rice before the rice domestication. The presence of phytoliths from rice (Oryza sativa) found in Yahuai Cave dating to ca.16,000 BP provided valuable material data for the wild rice exploitation and offer new clues for exploring the rice domestication.

Source: Chinese Archaeology [March 13, 2018]

A kiln apparently used to bake tiles for the roof of Toshodaiji temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site here, offers new hints into the craftsmanship that went into creating the magnificent structures more than 1,000 years ago.

Remains of a tile kiln unearthed from the grounds of Toshodaiji temple in Nara [Credit: Kazushige Kobayashi]

The Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, said the kiln was likely used for the roof tiles of the “kondo” main hall and other structures in the temple complex between the late Nara Period (710-784) and early Heian Period (794-1185).

Remains of the kiln, measuring 4.2 meters by up to 2.2 meters, were excavated from under the “mieido” building north of the center of the temple.

The kiln is thought to have been 4.2 meters long and up to 2.2 meters wide [Credit: Kazushige Kobayashi]

“The tile kiln was likely set up on the temple grounds during the final stage of construction of the kondo, east pagoda and other buildings,” said Michio Maezono, an archaeology professor at Nara College of Arts.

“Toshodaiji is not a large publicly commissioned temple, so those facilities could have been erected gradually over dozens of years.”

Tiles for the roof of Toshodaiji temple's “kondo” main hall are believed to have been baked here [Credit: Kazushige Kobayashi]

Toshodaiji was founded in 759 by Ganjin (688-763), a high-ranking monk from China's Tang Dynasty, as a place to impart Buddhist disciplines and teachings.

Building work at the temple site apparently continued after Ganjin died. While the record remains murky, it is said that the east pagoda built in 810 is the most recent addition to Toshodaiji.

Author: Yuya Tanaka | Source: The Asahi Shimbun [March 12, 2018]

The history and archaeology of Mongolia, most famously the sites associated with the largest land empire in the history of the world under Ghengis Khan, are of global importance. But they're facing unprecedented threats as climate change and looting impact ancient sites and collections.

Burial sites may contain treasures, or just old bones. And looters won’t know until they’ve destroyed them [Credit: Julia Kate Clark]

Climate change and looting may seem to be unrelated issues. But deteriorating climate and environmental conditions result in decreased grazing potential and loss of profits for the region's many nomadic herders. Paired with a general economic decline, herders and other Mongolians are having to supplement their incomes, turning to alternative ways of making money. For some, it's searching for ancient treasures to sell on the illegal antiquities market.

The vast Mongolian landscape, whether it be plains, deserts or mountains, is dotted with man-made stone mounds marking the burials of ancient peoples. The practice started sometime in the neolithic period (roughly 6,000-8,000 years ago) with simple stone mounds the size of a kitchen table. These usually contain a human body and a few animal bones.

Over time, the burials became larger (some over 400 metres long) and more complex, incorporating thousands of horse sacrifices, tools, chariots, tapestries, family complexes, and eventually treasure (such as gold, jewellery and gems).

For Mongolians, these remains are the lasting reminders of their ancient past and a physical tie to their priceless cultural heritage.

Mongolia has reasonably good laws regarding the protection of cultural heritage. But poor understanding of the laws, and the nearly impossible task of enforcing them in such a large space with relatively few people and meagre budgets keep those laws from being effective. And laws can't protect Mongolia's cultural heritage from climate change.

Looting losses

The looting of archaeological sites in Mongolia has been happening for a very long time. Regional archaeologists have shared anecdotes of finding skeletons with break-in tools made from deer antlers in shafts of 2,000 year old royal tombs in central Mongolia. These unlucky would-be thieves risked the unstable sands collapsing in the shafts above them for a chance at riches, not long after the royal leaders had been buried there.

While looters discard bones, they are invaluable to archaeologists’ research [Credit: Julia Kate Clark]

But many recent pits dug directly into burial sites around Mongolia, some that are more than 3,000 years old, suggest modern day looting is on the rise. For the untrained looter, any rock feature has the potential to contain valuable goods and so grave after grave is torn apart. Many of these will contain no more than human and animal bones.

Archaeologists' interest in these burials lie in the information they contain for research, but this is worthless on the black antiquities market. But to steer looters away from these burials would be to teach them which ones to target for treasure and so this strategy is avoided.

Archaeologists working in northern Mongolia in 2017 found hundreds of looted sites, including an 800 year old cemetery consisting of at least 40 burials. Each and every one of them had been completely destroyed by looters looking for treasure. Human remains and miscellaneous artefacts such as bows, arrows, quivers, and clothing were left scattered on the surface.

Having survived over 800 years underground, these priceless bows, arrows, cloth fragments and bones likely have less than a year on the surface before they're gone forever. This is not to mention the loss of whatever goods (gold, silver, gems) the looters decided was valuable enough to keep.

The mummy race

Archaeological teams are currently working against climate change, looters, and each other for the chance to unearth rare mummies in the region that are known to pique public interest within Mongolia and abroad. A 2017 exhibit at the National Museum of Mongolia featured two mummies and their impressive burial goods—one of which had been rescued from the hands of looters by archaeologists and local police. Though they appeared not to have been particularly high ranking individuals, their belongings displayed incredible variety, artistry and detail.

Discovering mummies offers the opportunity to increase interest and tourism in Mongolia [Credit: The Center of Cultural Heritage of Mongolia]

The result of natural processes rather than intentional mummification as in ancient Egypt, some of these mummies are preserved by very dry environments protected in caves and rock shelters. Others are ice mummies, interred in burials that were constructed in such a way that water seeped in and froze—creating a unique preservation environment.

Both preservation environments produce artefacts that rarely survive such long periods of time. This includes human tissues like skin and hair, clothing and tapestries, wooden artefacts, and the remains of plants and animals associated with the burial.

As looters zero in on these sites, and climate change melts ice and changes the environmental conditions in other yet unknown ways, archaeologists are racing to locate, and preserve these finds. But with little infrastructure, small budgets and almost no specialised training in how to handle such remains, there's some concern about the long term preservation of even those remains archaeologists are able to rescue.

Efforts to provide training opportunities, international collaborations with mummy experts, and improved infrastructure and facilities are underway, but these collections are so fragile there is little time to spare.


What Mongolia can teach us

The situation in Mongolia could help us to understand and find new solutions to dealing with changes in climate and the economic drivers behind looting. Humans around the world in many different times have faced and had to adapt to climate change, economic strife and technological innovations.

There's truth represented by a material record of the "things" left by ancient peoples and in Mongolia, the study of this record has led to an understanding of the impact of early food production and horse domestication, the emergence of new social and political structures and the dominance of a nomadic empire.

Author: Julia Kate Clark | Source: The Conversation [March 12, 2018]

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Wu & Wu (1996) first proposed the former "Eastern Asiatic region" to be an independent floristic Kingdom, the "East Asiatic Floristic Kingdom". It is significant to the definition of the Floristic regions of the world. However, there are still some questions need to be discussed.

These are floristic regions of the Eastern Asiatic Floristic Kingdom and its two subkingdoms (A & B) based on Wu and Wu (1996) (7). White dashed lines (A) demarcate boundaries of two floristic subkingdoms; Photos of living plants (B) are the representatives of each subkingdom; (a) Gentiana, (b) Corydalis, (c) Primula, (d) Pedicularis, (e) Rhodiola, (f) Saxifraga, (g) Rhododendron, (h) Eucommia, (i) Cercidiphyllum, (j) Ginkgo, (k) Trochodendron, (l) Cathaya, (m) Davidia, (n) Metasequoia [Credit: © Science China Press]

As many living fossil plants (Cenozoic plant relicts) only occurred in East Asian today, many researchers have suggested that the East Asiatic Floristic is an ancient flora and the cradle of North American, European floras and even the modern Paleo-tropical flora .

In addition, East Asia has also been considered to be the diversification or origin center of angiosperms. Besides this, as most paleoendemic taxa of the East Asiatic Floristic occurred in the Sino-Japanese flora and neoendemic taxa were concentrated in the Sino-Himalayan flora. Previous studies suggested that the Sino-Japanese flora is older than the Sino-Himalayan flora. Are these hypothesis true or not? However, until today these questions have not been solved well, due to the limitation of research methods and materials.

On the basis of previous studies, Prof. Sun Hang's Group from Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KIB/CAS), propose the term "Metasequoia Flora" to represent the core area of the Sino-Japanese Flora. Since the living fossil plant Metasequoia glyptostroboides is one representative of the relicts or living fossil lineages that are found in this area. Similarly, They propose the term "Rhododendron Flora" to better represent the core region of the Sino-Himalayan flora, as Rhododendron is the largest genus and formed a diversity center in this region, plus it is a representative plant of the flora in this area.

These are geographical origins of the East Asian flora. Pie chart illustrate the percent of taxa originated in situ, ambiguous origin and immigrants from other flora. Arrows indicate the biogeographical origin of East Asian elements from other region. Photos of living plants are the representatives of different geographical origins;  (a) Cyananthus, (b) Cotinus, (c) Rhodiola, (d) Ilex, (e) Stachyuraceae, (f) Hamamelis, (g) Coriaria, (h) Helleborus, (i) Mandragora, (j) Cissus, (k) Hypericum, (l) Viburnum, (m) Musa, (n) Alangium, (o) Myriophyllum, (p) Disporum, (q) Carya, (r) Schima, (s) Rhus, (t) Adenocaulon, (u) Smilax,  (v) Diapensia, (w) Cassiope [Credit: © Science China Press]

On the basis above, the group first synthesized published molecular phylogenetic data as well as fossil information on the seed plants, try to trace the temporal and spatial evolution of East Asian flora by integrating these datasets with paleo environmental studies that are related to this area.

The results suggest that the East Asian might be relatively young, with most of its clades originating since the Miocene, it should be the refugia for ancient relict plants rather than the birthplace. The Rhododendron Flora and the Metasequoia Flora are probably of a similar age.

The formation and development of the Asian monsoon might have been the main factors that drive the evolution of East Asian flora. The unequal distribution of species diversity in Rhododendron and Metasequoia flora may be due to the diverse and heterogeneous topography and climate of this region caused by the uplift of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Meanwhile, this phenomenon may be also correlated with the direction of mountains ranges in these regions. The East Asian flora appears to have multiple biogeographical origins, being closely affiliations not only with other floras in the Northern Hemisphere, but also with Gondwanan floras.

The study results are published in National Science Review.

Source: Science China Press [February 27, 2018]

Researchers found evidence of an oblong structure from the Asuka Period (592-710) that was likely part of a banquet hall complex for the nobility described in an eighth century official history of Japan.

The pits in the ground suggest the ancient structure in Asuka, Nara Prefecture, measured at least 19.2 meters west to east [Credit: Yoshinori Mizuno]

The building dates from when Asuka served as the nation's capital, and its existence was announced by the education board of the Asuka village government on Feb. 21.

Researchers uncovered pits in the ground for 16 wooden pillars in the Asukadera Seiho site, which lies west of the old Asukadera temple. The pits were uncovered in the northwest part of the archaeological site and are believed to date from the seventh century.

The pits measure between 90 centimeters and 135 cm across. The placement of the pillars suggests the banquet hall measured at least 19.2 meters west to east and 4.8 meters south to north.

The old Asukadera temple is thought to have been the first Buddhist temple founded in Japan. The area west of the temple is considered to be the site of “Tsukinoki no Hiroba,” or famed square of zelkova trees mentioned in “Nihon Shoki” (The Chronicles of Japan), completed in the eighth century.

The book describes banquets held in the square in the latter half of the seventh century for people invited from the outskirts of the kingdom, including the Emishi from today’s Tohoku region and the Hayato from the southern Kyushu region.

Kanekatsu Inokuma, professor emeritus of archeology at Kyoto Tachibana University, believes “the square was a functional venue for various rituals,” adding that the discovery ties in with historical accounts of banquets hosted for the Emishi and Hayato people, with sumo tournaments put on for entertainment.

"Just how they are described in Nihon Shoki,” he said.

Tsukinoki no Hiroba is reputed to be where the young Emperor Tenji as crown prince first became acquainted with Nakatomi no Kamatari through a “kemari” ball-kicking game. They connived to stage a coup in 645 that brought about the Taika Reforms to cement the power of the imperial court.

About 300 meters north of the Asukadera Seiho site lie the Ishigami archaeological ruins, which yielded a stone figure, probably a fountain.

The Ishigami site bears traces of a facility that was enclosed by a narrow corridor-like building, which is believed to have been part of a much larger banquet complex.

Author: Yuya Tanaka | Source: The Asahi Shimbun [February 23, 2018]

Workers paving a farm road here stumbled on a 1,500-year-old underground tomb containing a large stone coffin, human remains and armor in remarkable condition.

A cuirass known as a “tanko” and preserved in excellent condition, and a stone coffin, left, have been unearthed in Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture [Credit: Shibushi City Education Board]

The remains are likely of a local chieftain while the cuirass, a type of breastplate known as “tanko,” is believed to have been a gift from the Yamato imperial court in current Nara Prefecture in appreciation of the leader’s cooperation, the education board of Shibushi city said Jan. 24.

The tunnel-tomb was unearthed during farm road paving work in December.

“It was likely built for a powerful leader in the local region who was directly connected with the Yamato imperial court,” said Tatsuya Hashimoto, a professor of archaeology at the Kagoshima University Museum.

The grave, which is from the Kofun Period (late third to seventh centuries), is one of the largest tunnel-tombs in the Osumi region in eastern Kagoshima Prefecture. It boasts a vertical shaft that is 2.6 meters long, 1.8 meters wide and 1.6 meters deep. The burial chamber is 2.6 meters long, 1.9 meters wide and 90 centimeters high.

This type of construction is unique to the southern Kyushu region. The site has been named the No. 3 Harada Chikashiki Yokoanabo (Harada underground tunnel-tomb).

The skeletal remains are those of a 170-centimeter-tall adult male.

A sword, its scabbard and other items were also found in the pumice stone coffin measuring 2.4 meters. It is 60 cm wide and 50 cm tall.

The tanko is in near-immaculate condition and was standing beside the coffin. The armor measures 35 cm by 40 cm.

More than 20 burial accessories, such as an iron arrowhead, spear and iron ax were discovered.

The tomb features more grave accessories than any other tunnel-tombs in the Osumi region, according to the education board.

Author: Koji Suohara | Source: The Asahi Shimbun [February 15, 2018]

Scientists from the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) form part of the team which has just published a paper in the journal Scientific Reports, studying for the first time the original fossil remains conserved of "Peking Man." These six teeth belonging to Homo erectus were found in the mid-twentieth century at the Middle Pleistocene archaeological site of Zhoukoudian (Beijing).

These six teeth belonging to Homo erectus were found in the mid-twentieth century at the Middle Pleistocene archaeological site of Zhoukoudian (Beijing) [Credit: Xing Song et al.]

The archaeological and paleontological material (including numerous human remains) at this Chinese site, declared a UNESCO World Heritage, was lost during the Second World War, while it was being shipped to the United States. Currently, there only exist six original teeth, recovered between 1949 and 1959 and in 1966, which are described and compared in this work led by Xing Song, of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of Beijing, in which María Martinón-Torres, director of the CENIEH, and José María Bermúdez de Castro, coordinator of the hominid Paleobiology program, have also participated.

"Since they were lost, for research on the fossil humans found at the site during the 1930s, plaster replicas of very poor quality have been used, as well as the descriptions and sketches that the researcher Franz Weidenreich left us," comments Bermúdez de Castro.

Homo erectus pekinensis

The human fossils were initially attributed by the Canadian anthropologist Davison Black to the species Sinanthropus pekinensis. Later, in the 1950s, these fossils were included in the species Homo erectus. As Martinón-Torres explains, for a long time the idea was held that this species was a direct ancestor of modern humanity, and "all the human fossils found in what we call the Far East and in the current islands of Indonesia have been attributed systematically to Homo erectus.

Several recent studies point out differences among all these fossils, which are considered as normal variations within the species. According to the authors of this paper entitled "The fossil teeth of the Peking Man," there are similarities between the teeth of Zhoukoudian and those of other Chinese archaeological sites from a similar period, but they also highlight the differences from other teeth ascribed either to Homo erectus or other species of hominins from Africa and Europe.

It is hoped that this latest work will open the doors definitively to a revision of all the human fossil material from the Far East.

Source: CENIEH [February 01, 2018]

Archaeologists in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have unearthed the ruins of a government office building, which was believed to be a musical department of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.)

The ruins of a government office building, which was believed to be a musical department of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), in northwest China's Shaanxi Province [Credit: Xinhua]

The ruins, 110 meters long and 19.5 meters wide, were composed of four rooms of equal area, with clay walls of around 3 meters thick, said Zhang Yanglizheng, assistant researcher with the provincial research institute of archaeology.

In addition to architecture materials, such as tiles and bricks, pieces of stone chimes, a percussion instrument in ancient China, were found in the ruins excavated in Xixian New Area.

Archaeologists arrange tiles at the ruins of a government office building, which was believed to be a musical department of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), in northwest China's Shaanxi Province [Credit: Xinhua/Li Yibo]

Xu Weihong, excavation team leader of the institute, said 23 pieces of the chime debris were found with inscriptions saying "beigongyuefu," meaning "musical department of the north palace."

"The inscriptions have proved the building used to be the government office of the musical department in ancient city of Xianyang in the Qin Dynasty," she said.

Chime debris with inscriptions at the ruins of a government office building, which was believed to be a musical department of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), in northwest China's Shaanxi Province [Credit: Xinhua/Li Yibo]

Archaeologists also found burned signs, including cracks on the chime pieces.

Xu said two of the four rooms were empty, which may have indicated that the former office had been looted before being burned.

A piece of chime debris with inscriptions saying "beigongyuefu," meaning "musical department of the north palace" at the ruins of a government office building, which was believed to be a musical department of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), in northwest China's Shaanxi Province [Credit: Xinhua/Li Yibo]

"Except the chimes that were smashed to pieces, the other stuff in the rooms may have been burgled, with inflammable objects burned to ashes," she said, estimating the looting may have been connected to the uprising that ended the Qin emperor's reign.

Historical records show that Xiang Yu, a prominent military leader and political figure during the late Qin Dynasty, set a fire after occupying Xianyang, the then capital.

Shaanxi is famous for its rich archaeological resources, including the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang and the Terracotta Warriors.

Source: Xinhua [January 31, 2018]

An international team of scientists has mapped the evolutionary relationships between China's 30,000 flowering plant species, uncovering a distinct regional pattern in biodiversity. Eastern China is a floral "museum" with a rich array of ancient lineages and distant relatives while the western provinces are an evolutionary "cradle" for newer and more closely related species.

New research shows that eastern China is a floral 'museum' with a rich array of ancient lineages and distant relatives while the western provinces are an evolutionary 'cradle' for newer and more closely related species [Credit: Florida Museum, Jenny Xiang]

The findings highlight the need for more conservation efforts in densely populated eastern China, home to many threatened plant species and the country's top biodiversity hotspots.

Better connecting eastern China's nature reserves and parks, currently fragmented by urbanization and provincial borders, would help conserve plant lineages and the animals that depend on them, said Pam Soltis, one of the study's senior authors and a distinguished professor and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

"Conservation is not just about protecting species numbers but also protecting evolutionary diversity and processes," said Soltis, who is also the director of the University of Florida Biodiversity Institute. "Focusing just on how many species are in an area, rather than how different they are from one another genealogically, could lead to conservation practices that miss important sections of the Tree of Life. Both are key measures of biodiversity. This study helps spotlight what is missing in China's current protective strategies."

In a study led by Li-Min Lu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers produced the first dated phylogeny -- a family tree of organisms showing when new species appeared -- for all of China's flowering plant species, or angiosperms, and mapped their distributions using 1.4 million museum specimen records.

The researchers found that about 66 percent of angiosperm genera in China did not originate until the early Miocene, about 23 million years ago. Mean species divergence times -- when species first appeared -- were 22-25 million years ago in the East and 15-19 million years ago in the West.

Western China is home to younger flowering plant lineages while older lineages tend to originate in eastern China, which includes central and southern provinces. Blue and red boxes mark the distribution of the top five clades with genera occurring only in western and eastern China, respectively [Credit: Li-Min Lu et al. Nature, 2018]

Over the past 30 million years, herbaceous plants -- those without a woody stem -- diversified much more quickly than woody plants such as shrubs, trees and vines.

China is home to about 10 percent of the world's flowering plant species, outstripping the number of angiosperm species in the U.S. by more than 3.5-fold. Its varied geography and climate contribute to its wealth of biodiversity. The hills, lowlands and plains in the warmer, more tropical East gradually rise to the West's rugged mountains, deserts and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the highest tableland in the world.

Unlike North America and Europe, China did not undergo the dramatic ecological turnover driven by glaciation in the ice age about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, allowing ancient plant lineages to persist in the East and newer lineages to be folded into ever-diversifying plant communities.

"China didn't experience that big type of cataclysmic event," said Doug Soltis, a distinguished professor and curator at the Florida Museum and professor in the UF department of biology. "That allowed it to be more of a museum than other parts of the Northern Hemisphere."

The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the West, caused by India's collision with Eurasia, spurred the region's evolutionary explosion of new species by opening up myriad new habitats and creating a cool, arid western climate. The West became a cradle for newer herbaceous plants while the East remained a museum for older herbaceous plants and both a museum and a cradle for woody plants.

China’s top biodiversity hotspots for flowering plants, such as this magnolia (top), are concentrated in the East. But the region’s conservation areas tend to be small and fragmented; The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the West spurred  the region’s evolutionary explosion of new plant species, such as this rhododendron (bottom) [Credit: Zhi-Duan Chen]

The researchers used species distribution data to map China's areas of genetic richness, pinpointing several eastern provinces as home to the country's greatest genetic diversity of flowering plants: Guangdong, Guanxi, Guizhou, Hainan and Yunnan. Conservation in the East, however, is carried out on a much smaller, more fragmented scale than in the sparsely populated West, where large swaths of land are preserved.

"It's good to preserve these areas with recent radiations of new species, but what's missing is extensive protection of these older eastern lineages," Doug Soltis said. "This study helps us better see the discrepancies between where conservation areas are and where the diversity actually is located. Scientists didn't realize the importance of protecting genetic diversity -- and not just rare species -- until the last few decades, but we couldn't measure this type of diversity in a rigorous way until the last 10-15 years."

The researchers pointed to the value of museum collections in enabling this country-scale study of thousands of plant species spanning millions of years of evolution. Each plant specimen, painstakingly collected and preserved in herbaria over the past century and digitized, contributed to an enormous dataset that offered a detailed snapshot of China's diversity of flowering plants.

"How do you do something like this without relying on millions of collections?" Pam Soltis said. "Without all those data, it's impossible. The question of how communities of organisms came together and changed over time is unanswered for nearly all groups. Pinning down the history of 30,000 species -- nearly 10 percent of the planet's flowering plant life -- is a major leap forward."

Lead author Lu said the study provides a model for many other landscape-scale studies of biodiversity.

"We feel that the importance of this study extends beyond plant biology to other lineages of organisms and other regions of Earth," she said. "Both the approaches used and the results are also of broad interest to scientists and the public who are concerned with the conservation of biodiversity."

The team published its results in the journal Nature.

Source: Florida Museum of Natural History [January 31, 2018]

New discoveries at the Lushan Mao archaeological site in the Baota district of Yan'an in China's Shaanxi province push the date of the Yan’an fortification complex back by at least 2,300 years.

File photo shows a full view of Lushan Mao relics site, in Baota district of Yan’an of Shaanxi province [Credit: VCG]

The "2017 Shaanxi provincial new archaeological discoveries seminar", cohosted by Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and Social Science Association of Shaanxi Province, was held on Jan 23, 2017. It gave a detail report on the archaeological discoveries at the Lushan Mao archaeological site.

File photo shows a jade ware unearthed from Lushan Mao relics site, in Baota district of Yan’an of Shaanxi province [Credit: VCG]

The Lushan Mao archaeological site, covering an area of more than 2 million square metres, is one of the largest prehistoric settlements site ever discovered in China.

File photo shows an inscribed roof tile unearthed from Lushan Mao relics site, in Baota district of Yan’an of Shaanxi province [Credit: VCG]

After two years of archaeological excavation, ruins of houses, ovens, rammed earth walls have been found, and a large amount of pottery, stoneware, bone artefacts, and jade ware have been unearthed.

File photo shows a cultural relic unearthed from Lushan Mao relics site, in Baota district of Yan’an of Shaanxi province [Credit: VCG]

Duyuan, an expert from School of History and Culture, Yan 'an University, said that according to historical documents, the earliest fortification history of Yan’an can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), about 2,200 years ago.

However, the new discoveries at the Lushan Mao archaeological site suggest that it is at least 4,500 years old.

Source: China Daily [January 26, 2018]

An ancient heap of shells at Sakatsuji Shell Midden in the city of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, most likely served as a clam processing site in the latter half of the mid-Jomon Period, approximately 4,500 years ago, an investigation conducted by the city’s board of education has revealed.

Piles of clamshells with a stone structure above them are seen at an excavation site at the Sakatsuji Shell Midden in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture [Credit: Chunichi Shimbun]

While there are ruins in eastern Japan that indicate organized production during the mid-Jomon Period — including the Nakazato shell midden, or mound, which is a national historic site in Tokyo’s Kita Ward — it is extremely rare to find one in the Chubu region or further west. This latest discovery will provide important clues about the culinary lifestyle and economic activities conducted in the Jomon Period.

The Sakatsuji shell mound is one of the Muro cluster of seven shell middens in Aichi Prefecture.

An excavation conducted in the 1970s showed a rough scale of activities there, but details had remained unknown.

The mound is located approximately 3.5 km inland of what is now Mikawa Bay. But prior to the bay being filled in to create rice fields in the Edo Period the shell mound had faced the sea, along a stretch of coastland where the shores are shallow.

As a land consolidation project is scheduled to start in the area that includes the mound, the board of education had been excavating approximately 1,000 square meters of land since May.

The mound, made almost entirely of clamshells, measures roughly 1.6 meters high, about 6 meters wide and more than 24 meters long.

At least four layers have been identified, sandwiched between soil streaked with charcoal.

The team also discovered around 55 objects that looked like furnaces assembled from stones, and the members expect to find more as they continue excavating.

“We believe that the clams were boiled in the furnaces, and their meat stripped from the shells. Afterward the shells were piled up, then the ground was leveled and made into a processing site again,” said a member of the excavation team. “That kind of process must have been repeated again and again.”

The excavation team was not able to find any evidence of residences nearby, so it was likely the workers who dug and processed the clams lived in another area.

The volume of shells discovered was so huge it is hard to believe that they were consumed within the region, and the excavation team has said there is a possibility people dried the clams after they were boiled so that they would last longer and could be used for trading.

The shells are of various sizes. “We found many large shells similar to those seen in high-class Japanese restaurants. The clams must have become quite salty when boiled in sea water, so maybe they were used to make soup stock,” a member of the excavation team said. Several hundred furnaces have been found in the other six shell mounds in Muro. They share the same features as the Sakatsuji midden, which indicates the whole area was bustling with clam processing at the time.

However, the other six shell middens were from the late Jomon Period — approximately 2,300 to 3,800 years ago — which means the clam processing site of Sakatsuji was much older.

Most of the furnaces found in the other shell middens were also without stone structures, and were constructed in such a way that earthenware was placed directly on the floor.

“Perhaps they changed to a simpler furnace in order to meet the growing demand for clams,” said one of the team members.

The excavation will continue until the end of March and an on-site briefing is expected to be held in mid-February.

According to Tomonari Osada, a part-time lecturer specializing in archaeology at Chubu University, the Tokai region during the mid-Jomon Period is believed to have been less socially developed compared to the period immediately before the beginning of the Yayoi Period.

“I would be surprised if the production conducted at the Sakatsuji shell midden was for the sake of trading and distribution to other regions. We need to focus on this site and conduct further analysis to determine whether the objects made of stones were indeed furnaces for boiling (clams).”

Source: The Japan Times [January 25, 2018]

After a four-year excavation, archeologists have confirmed the location of China's largest Taoist temple, built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and used continuously until it was destroyed by fire in 1930.

Photos taken on Jan. 21, 2018 shows the site of the Great Shangqing Palace at the foot of Longhu Mountain in Yingtan,  east China's Jiangxi Province. After a four-year excavation, archaeologists have confirmed the location of the Great Shangqing Palace, which is China's largest Taoist temple built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and used continuously until it was destroyed by fire in 1930 [Credit: Xinhua/Wan Xiang]

Xin Lixiang, an archaeologist from China's National Museum and one of China's most authoritative people on the Qin and Han dynasties, said at a press conference on Sunday that the Great Shangqing Palace was a place of worship for a line of emperors throughout Chinese history and was the primary location for the Zhengyi Sect of Taoism.

Add caption

Staff members work at the site of the Great Shangqing Palace at the foot of Longhu Mountain in Yingtan, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 21, 2018. After a four-year excavation, archaeologists have confirmed the location of the Great Shangqing Palace, which is China's largest Taoist temple built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and used continuously until it was destroyed by fire in 1930 [Credit: Xinhua/Wan Xiang]

Archaeologists have excavated 5,000 square meters of the palace, which was dedicated to a Chinese Taoist master, located at the foot of Longhu Mountain in east China's Jiangxi Province.

The Zhengyi Sect of Taoism was found by Zhang Daoling (34-156), who was known as Celestial Master Zhang and is believed to have lived and practiced Taoism at Longhu Mountain. Zhang's Taoist temple was originally built on top of the mountain during the Han Dynasty (202 B.C -220 A.D.).

Photos taken on Jan. 21, 2018 shows a cultural relic that excavated from the site of the Great Shangqing Palace at the foot of Longhu Mountain in Yingtan, east China's Jiangxi Province. After a four-year excavation, archaeologists have confirmed the location of the Great Shangqing Palace, which is China's largest Taoist temple built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and used continuously until it was destroyed by fire in 1930 [Credit: Xinhua/Wan Xiang]

During Song Dynasty, a Taoist palace dedicated to Zhang was built at the foot of the mountain, and was later expanded and became an imperial palace for Taoist practice through Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The palace was destroyed in a fire in 1930.

In 2014, workers building a scenic area at the mountain found a stele with characters marking a major renovation of the palace during the rein by Eperor Jiaqing (1760-1820) in Qing Dynasty. The provincial cultural relics bureau reported the finding to the State Bureau of Cultural Relics who approved the excavation.

Photos taken on Jan. 21, 2018 shows a cultural relic that excavated from the site of the Great Shangqing Palace at the foot of Longhu Mountain in Yingtan, east China's Jiangxi Province. After a four-year excavation, archseologists have confirmed the location of the Great Shangqing Palace, which is China's largest Taoist temple built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and used continuously until it was destroyed by fire in 1930 [Credit: Xinhua/Wan Xiang]

Archaeologist said it is the largest excavation of a Taoist site in China. In addition to the core palace excavation, archaeological surveys have been carried out over a 30-square-km area to ascertain the original palace structure.

A trove of pottery and porcelain as well as building materials were unearthed, including glazed tiles from the temple's ancient paintings.

Archaeologists believe that the ruins of the palace are worthy of an application for world heritage classification in the future.

Source: XinhuaNet [January 24, 2018]

The Khermen Tal site is located in Ogiinuur Sum, Arkhangai Province, Mongolia. The site is attributed to the Xiongnu, a nomadic tribe that made its first appearance in northern Eurasia in the third century BC, migrating westward in the second century before vanishing in the fifth century. As one of the best preserved and largest ancient city groups in Mongolia, it contained three walled enclosures the remains of which lie side by side from east to west and have the same layout. Hence the site's name: 'Hudgiyn Denj' or 'Three Interconnected Cities'.

Aerial photo of the 'Hudgiyn Denj' site [Credit: Archaeology Press IA CASS]

From 2014 to 2016, a Sino-Mongolian joint archaeological team from the Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and International College of Nomadic Culture of Mongolia conducted an archaeological survey, while also undertaking research, exploration and mapping of the site.

Some features of the site were also cleared. The Central platforms of the Western and Middle Cities, the Eastern Gate of the Western City and the earthen platform in the southwest of the Middle City were uncovered during the excavations. The eastern wall, a moat and path in the Western City were sectioned.

Very few artefacts were recovered from the various features and deposits. Only several broken pottery shards were unearthed, as well as a copper nail, a copper knife and an iron knife.

Aerial photo of the Middle City [Credit: Archaeology Press IA CASS]

From July to October in 2017, the joint archaeological team cleared up the central platform located in the middle of the walled enclosure (numbered IIA). This platform consisted of a covered cone-shaped platform, a sloping step-road in the west and a north-south oriented sloping step-road in the east.

The platform was oriented north-south and each side was 35.8m long. Around the platform, 36 large post-holes were discovered, most of which were round in shape with a 0.75~1.05m diameter and 0.80~1.00m depth. In their bottoms, there were flat stones used as plinths. Around the large post-holes, there are also small post-holes with a 0.15~0.30m diameter and a 0.30~0.60m depth distributed regularly.

According to the results of excavations, there was probably a grid-like structure consisting of 100 large posts, probably supporting a large ritual platform 9 rooms wide and 9 rooms deep. A sloping step road in the west connected with the middle part of the west end of the platform. The step road is 14.4m long and 4.2m wide.

The earthern platforms IIA and IIB [Credit: Archaeology Press IA CASS]

The sloping step road in the east was 2.6~2.9m wide and 64m long, oriented north-south, and was located next to a small earth platform (IIB) to the left of IIA. This smaller platform is likewise oriented north-south and is square in plan. It’s 13.6m long from east to west and 12.8m wide from north to south. Regularly distributed small post holes were also discovered around this platform.

'Hudgiyn Denj' belongs to the Xiongnu period based on stratigraphic, typological analysis and the results of C14 dating, between the third century BC to the first century AD. Written historical books in ancient China recorded that the Xiongnu used to build religious sites along the basin of the Orhon River for their religious conventions, such as offering sacrifices to the god of heaven three-times-a-year. Later, the chief of the Xiongnu also convened meetings on state affairs at the sites by the opportunity of these religious ceremonies, with horse racing and camel riding as an amusement.

The central platform of the Middle City of 'Hudgiyn Denj' is the first large platform base of a building constructed from packed earth and wood that has been completely uncovered in Mongolia and is therefore of significant historical value for research in the field of Xiongnu archaeology.

Source: The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IA CASS) [January 23, 2018]

The remains of a huge kitchen dating to the latter half of the Nara Period (710-784) have apparently been unearthed here.

The remains of a well, foreground, unearthed at the former site of the Toin district of the Heijo Imperial Palace, and ruins, background, which were likely part of a large cooking facility, are shown Dec. 21 in Nara [Credit: Gen Hashimoto]

The ruins of a massive well and other structures were discovered on the grounds where the Heijo Imperial Palace, a designated special historic site, formerly stood, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties said on Dec. 21.

As the discovery site is part of the Toin district that was home to the crown prince’s residence and other important buildings, historians said the newly discovered facility was likely used to cook for the upper crust at imperial banquets.

The well was surrounded by a 4-meter-square building frame placed at the center of a square-shaped area measuring 9.5 meters east to west and 9 meters north to south.

The size of the structure is comparable to one found at the former site of the emperor’s residence at the Heijo Imperial Palace.

While remains of a building equipped with an eave measuring more than 18 meters east to west and 9 meters north to south were also unearthed just west of the well, a 1-meter-wide, 60-centimeter-deep groove connecting the building and the well was also discovered.

The groove branches off and extends to the inside of the building. A lot of tableware, cooking utensils, containers and other types of earthenware were unearthed in the forked groove.

Assuming the well, building and groove were arranged in an integrated manner to use water from the well in a well-planned fashion, the research institute argues they were likely part of a cooking facility to prepare meals for imperial family members in the central Toin district.

“The forked groove indicates many people worked there,” said Kazumi Tateno, a specially appointed professor of ancient Japanese history at Nara Women's University. “The remains were likely part of a cooking facility to provide meals for huge banquets.”

Author: Ryo Miyazaki | Source: The Asahi Shimbun [January 23, 2018]