According to experts, a public cemetery from long ago in China has been found, containing graves and cultural artifacts.
A total of 328 cultural artifacts, including porcelain, pottery, bronze, and jade objects, as well as 77 graves, 45 of which date to the Western Zhou dynasty, were found, according to experts with the Baoji Municipal Institute of Archaeology.
According to the institute, the location, also known as the Dongshahe West Road cemetery, served as a public burial ground throughout the Western Zhou dynasty, which, according to Britannica, lasted from 1046 B.C. to 771 B.C. Based on the shape, style, and inscription on the tombs, archaeologists were able to calculate the antiquity of the cemetery.
According to specialists, the artifacts included painted ceramics, jade used in religious rituals, and a bronze disk for astronomy. The artifacts exhibit characteristics that are similar to other cultures that were present in China at the period, demonstrating a substantial degree of cultural diffusion.
Cultural Expansion and Migration in Ancient China
As per documented migration routes, the Zhou people were not thought to have interacted with any ancient cultures in the east, but scientists claimed the recently unearthed artifacts suggest otherwise.
The Dawenkou ceramic design may be seen on several of the pottery jars discovered at the cemetery, for instance, according to the institute. According to Britannica, the Dawenkou civilisation was a Chinese Neolithic culture that existed between 4500 and 2700 B.C.
The Dawenkou civilization and the Western Zhou site share a "cultural relationship," according to archaeologist Xue Feng, who also found a bronze xuanji, a tool used for astronomy.
The Liangzhu culture, another Neolithic kingdom that lived on China's southeast coast from about 3,300 B.C. to 2,300 B.C., was also connected to the site, according to this institution.
Another instance of how ancient Chinese civilization spread to the west is a jade cong that was found at the Western Zhou site and had Liangzhu origins. The Global Times claims that cong were employed in religious rituals.
Hu Wanglin, an associate researcher at the Baoji Institute of Archaeology, told the Global Times that the Liangzhu culture expanded northward to meet the Dawenkou culture, and the Dawenkou culture then expanded further westward. The jade cong found in the tomb at Baoji "shows the 'westward' evolution of Chinese culture."
