Royal Chinese treasure discovered - Democratic Underground

emad

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:18 AM
Original message

Royal Chinese treasure discovered

Archaeologists studying the tomb of China's first emperor say he may have been buried with his state treasure.

A magnetic scan of the site has revealed that a large number of coins are lying in the unopened tomb.

Emperor Qin's mausoleum, near the former imperial capital Xian, became famous in 1976 with the discovery of 8,000 terracotta soldiers guarding it.

The emperor ruled China from 221-210BC and is believed to have spent decades building his immense underground tomb.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4359774.stm

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Ready4Change

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:21 AM
Response to Original message

1. Jeez, some people NEVER sort their change.

:)

Just kidding. It's tantalizing to consider still existing tomb treasures.

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SteppingRazor

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:24 AM
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2. Call Indiana Jones!

Somebody needs to go in there, dodge all the booby traps, and recover the treasure!

(imagine the swelling, dramatic Indiana Jones theme song playing now)

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Bridget Burke

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:25 AM
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3. I'm glad they are in no hurry to excavate.

Edited on Thu Oct-20-05 09:26 AM by Bridget Burke

Using non-invasive methods to gain knowledge is the way to go now.

They will eventually pick a good spot to start digging. After they've got conservation methods in place; artifacts can begin degrading as soon as they hit the atmosphere.

Edited to add: Reading accounts of "pioneer" archaeologists like Schliemann & Carter can make one cringe. So much of value was destroyed in the search for "treasure."

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jsamuel

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:27 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. I am currently studying for a quiz in that stuff (me--> archeologist)

Edited on Thu Oct-20-05 09:27 AM by jsamuel

remote sensing class

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Skidmore

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:25 AM
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4. Jeez, I thought they recovered our national debt.

This is exciting news.

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radwriter0555

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:30 AM
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6. That's great news. Under Mao virtually ALL chinese antiquities were

destroyed because he wanted the chinese to "forget their past" and look to their future.

There is little left of genuine Chinese artifacts, family heirlooms, antiques and thus, their heritage to look back on and appreciate... everything was destroyed, burned or crushed.

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Vinnie From Indy

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:31 AM
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7. What's really amazing is that they detected some writing in the tomb

It translated into English as "BUSH LIED".

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malmapus

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:38 AM
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8. Is this the same tomb that they believe the Emperor had an entire

detailed model / map of his domain made, and supposedly the rivers on it are filled with liquid mecrury? Was reading about the tomb of one of the Chinese Emperor's and what they believe is inside from stories or something. Was really interesting.

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crispini

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:39 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. That's the one!

If you read those contemporary accounts about what's in there it's absolutely fascinating. I'm surprised (and glad) that they just haven't dug it up wholesale yet. The treasure in there sounds quite amazing.

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malmapus

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:54 AM
Response to Reply #9

11. Awesome! Yeah I remember reading about that tomb.

Made me think how lucky those people were that constructed it and put in the finishing touches to have seen it in all its glory before sealing it....except I think they were killed afterwards to hide its existance..but still!

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xchrom

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Thu Oct-20-05 09:54 AM
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10. i've been waiting to here about what's

in there -- i've heard there's a replica of the palace -- complete with a mercury{?} lake.

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