Remains of a Bronze Age settlement dating back 3,500 years are unearthed on the ancient Silk Road by Chinese archaeologists
- Ruins of two large buildings and three smaller buildings were discovered
- Experts also excavated a large number of ceramic pieces and animal bones
- Traces of Bronze Age living were found under a group of 2,000-year-old tombs
- The site is situated in modern-day China where the ancient Silk Road passed
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of an extremely rare settlement thought to date back 3,500 years to the Late Bronze Age on the ancient Silk Road.
Experts found the remnants of five buildings, ceramic pieces as well as animal bones on the site in modern-day western China, reported state media.
The findings will provide valuable information for historians to understand the lifestyle as well as the migration pattern of those living on the vast grassland between Europe and Asia at the time, according to one researcher.
Chinese experts have found the remnants of five buildings, ceramic pieces as well as animal bones from 3,500 years ago under an existing excavation site in modern-day western China
The findings will provide valuable information for historians to understand the lifestyle as well as the migration pattern of those living on the grassland between Europe and Asia at the time
A team of experts recently found traces of the ancient community underneath a group of ancient tombs east of the Ili River Valley in present-day Xinjiang.
The cluster of graves is thought to have belonged to nomadic people and contains around 30 rectangular-shaped, single-chamber tombs.
Researchers believe the tombs date back around 2,000 years to an era equivalent to the Han Dynasty of China (206BC-220AD). That was also when trading activities on the Silk Road started to flourish.
The older, Bronze Age site was located about 50 centimetres (1.64 feet) underneath the burial site.
Experts discovered it by accident after noticing the earth around one of the nomadic tombs was different from that of the others, according to a media outlet affiliated to the local Xinyuan government.
Members of the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology excavated a large number of fragments of ceramic as well as bones belonging to cows, sheep, horses and antelopes from three and a half millennia ago.
Ruins of two large buildings, measuring nearly 200 square metres (2,150 square feet), and three smaller buildings of around 50 square metres (538 square feet) were found.
There was also evidence of the use of fire and coal.
Experts from the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology found traces of Bronze Age living underneath a group of ancient tombs (pictured) east of the Ili River Valley
Researchers excavated a large number of fragments of ceramic (pictured) as well as bones belonging to cows, sheep, horses and antelopes from three and a half millennia ago
The Bronze Age site had been lying underneath a group of ancient tombs thought to belong to nomadic people. The burial site has around 30 rectangular-shaped, single-chamber tombs
Ruan Rongqiu, one of the archaeologists who made the discovery, said the Bronze Age site measured about 500 square metres (5,381 square feet) in size.
‘This type of Bronze Age ruins is relatively rare in the area of Ili,’ Mr Ruan told state broadcaster CCTV.
‘Therefore it could provide very important material for the research into the people living on the Eurasian Steppe in the Bronze Age.’
The site is situated east of the Ili River Valley in present-day Xinjiang (above), western China