Early cultural exchanges between the West and the Far East have always been fascinating. Stories of Marco Polo’s travels and the visits of samurai to Western territories have captured people’s attention because of their exotic nature.
Now, archaeologists have found new evidence of these exchanges.
A person of Western descent in China. The excavation of a tomb nearly 1,300 years old revealed an illustration that appears to show a person of Western descent in Ancient China. The person in the illustration has blond hair and a beard, which suggests that they weren’t Han, the predominant ethnic group in China, as Victor Xiong, a historian from Western Michigan University, told Live Science.
Although he wasn’t part of the excavation team, Xiong said this person could be a Sogdian, an Iranian people from Central Asia who traded along the Silk Road. This could explain this person’s presence in the mural.
8th century. The mural is located in a tomb from the Tang Dynasty (between 618 and 907 AD) in the Chinese province of Shanxi. Experts believe the tomb belonged to a man who died in 736 and his wife.
Tomb guards. According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the tomb has only one chamber and was built in brick. More interestingly, the tomb’s murals are well-preserved.
The murals feature pairs of figures located at the tomb’s entrance, in the corridor, and at the entrance of the burial chamber. Archaeologists believe that these figures represent the guardians of the funerary complex.
Under the tree. The mural features other significant elements like trees, with figures depicted under their branches. According to the South China Morning Post, this artistic style is known as “figure under the tree” and was popular during the mausoleum’s construction.
The scenes depicted under the tree show everyday activities like a man purifying grain, a woman using a stone mill, another man kneading, and a woman drawing water from a well. Additionally, there’s a potential foreigner leading a group of horses and camels among these representations.
Archaeologists have connected the art in this tomb to other burials, including that of Wang Shenzi, who established the state of Min, one of the ten kingdoms that fought for supremacy in China during the first half of the 10th century.
Roadwork interrupted. The tomb was discovered in 2018 during road construction near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province in northern China. After more than five years of work, the details of this discovery were revealed this year.
Image | Xinhua
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