Ancient (BCE-40 CE)

This page introduces the fossil evidence for human evolution in China. At present it includes a catalog of Chinese human fossil remains consisting of: a picture gallery of important fossil specimens, maps detailing the distribution of human fossils, and a time line; links to other relevant sites dealing with paleontology, human evolution and Chinese prehistory; and other resources which may be useful for gaining a better understanding of China's role in the emergence of humankind. More features will be added in the near future

What day is today? Is it just another weekday, or some great ancient festival? And how about your birthday? Is it sacred to some god in the Roman Pantheon? Our ancient ancestors always knew what day it was -- they had a calendar so constant it was chiseled in stone and painted on walls in their homes.

In ancient Egypt the city and Library of Alexandria was the meeting place where philosophical, spiritual, and cosmological teachings flowed together to create vital new syntheses and a flourishing cultural environment.

Today, Alexandria is still an important city in Egypt. But

OLDEST ASTRONOMICAL MEGALITH ALIGNMENT
DISCOVERED IN SOUTHERN EGYPT BY SCIENCE TEAM
An assembly of huge stone slabs found in Egypt’s Sahara Desert that date from about 6,500 years to 6,000 years ago has been confirmed by scientists to be the oldest known astronomical alignment of megaliths in the world

A seismometer -- an earthquake detector -- was invented in 132 A.D., by Chang Heng, a brilliant mathematician and scientist in the Han Dynasty.

The ancient Chinese believed seismic events, with their death and destruction, were important signs from heaven. So it was important to the Han Court be alerted to earthquakes occurring anywhere in the kingdom. A correct call wins one immortal fame, as in Chang Heng’s case, while disgrace and punishment awaits a wrong call.

Cricket Culture in China encompasses a 2000 year history of both singing insects and fighting crickets. Two millennium of tradition may be divided into three eras (Laufer, 1927). From times prior to the Tang dynasty (500 B.C. - 618 A.D.), people only appreciated the cricket's powerful tunes. During the Tang dynasty (618 - 906 A.D.), people started to keep crickets in cages and enjoy their songs while in captivity. Under the Song dynasty (960 - 1278 A.D.), cricket fighting flourished as a popular sport. It is beyond the scope of this paper to produce a complete historic or chronological overview but I would like to expose some of the interesting snippets I have unearthed from the rich garden of cultural entomology in China along with a list of the involved orthopteran species.

Papyrology Home Page
Everything about papyrology, including images of the Rhind and Moscow papyri.
Egyptology Resources
Maintained by the University of Cambridge.
Egyptian numbers
Part of Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt.
Mesopotamian Mathematics
An extensive site maintained by Duncan Melville.
Mesopotamian Mathematics Page
An annotated collection of sites.

Some anthropologists and archaeologists have known for years that the ancient Chinese regarded cicadas as symbols of rebirth or immortality (4, 12, 16) in much the same way as the early Egyptians thought of the sacred scarab. Unlike the latter case, however, few western entomologists are aware of cicada symbolism used by the early Chinese. It is not mentioned in any English language entomology textbook of which I am aware. It is noted in Lucy Clausen's remarkable little book, Insect Fact and Folklore (10).

By maintaining this page we would like to contribute to the vast field of archaeoastronomy, by reporting news of studies performed in Italy at Universities or Archaeological Research Institutes. The aim is to spread the findings of the studies and to raise more interest on the topics of archaeoastronomy tackled by cooperating scholars of many disciplines.