18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Ancient rituals recorded on 2,000-year-old bamboo slips deciphered

Scholars of China’s Tsinghua University have deciphered five documents recorded on bamboo slips dating back to the Warring States period more than 2,000 years ago.

At a press conference last Sunday, experts explained that those five sets, dating back to the Warring States Period (475BC-221BC) and the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC), are “lost classics not found in extant literature.”

The five sets of bamboo slips, namely Rites of a High Official’s Meal, Record of Rites of a High Official’s Meal, Diagram of Five Tones, Music Style and Fear Heaven and Use Body, provide new materials for studying the rites, music, and thoughts of the pre-Qin period.

“There are two documents on rituals, which was the first discovery of the pre-Qin period (pre-221 B.C.) books on rituals recorded in the bamboo slips of Warring States Period (475-221 BC) so far unearthed,” said Huang Dekuan, director of the Center for the Study and Conservation of Excavated Documents at Tsinghua University.

The most eye-catching are the first two ritual books, compiled into one volume, made up of Dafu shili and Dafu shili ji (51 and 14 slips), respectively. Complementary to one another, the texts: while the former documents the ritual proprieties ought to be practiced by the hosts and receptionists during the “rite of dining,” the latter records the details of the ritual procedure enforced by the managers of affairs involved in the same rite.

Photo: Tsinghua University Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts
Photo: Tsinghua University Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts

Specifically, the documented ritual procedure shows great resemblance with that in the “Gong shi dafu li” “Rite of the Lord Having a Banquet with the Great Officers.” Unseen before among the Warring States bamboo manuscripts, the two texts not only preserve the prototype of ritual texts from that period but also reveal some key features of the great officer’s rites of banquet in the ancient Chu state, making them valuable sources for studies on the Pre-Qin ritual system and the ancient classic, Yi li.

The newly deciphered documents also include two music books providing important materials for the study of China’s early music theory system as well as the pre-Qin music history.

The five traditional Chinese musical notes gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu are written in the five corners of a pentagram that is the center of the Diagram of Five Tones. The note gong is located at the top of the pentagram, with the remaining four notes located in the other four corners, arranged clockwise. There are two sections to music style; the first lists the names of the musical tones, while the second part’s content is still up for interpretation.

Photo: Tsinghua University Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts
Photo: Tsinghua University Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts

Fear Heaven and Use Body is a seventeen-slip philosophical document. This book documents the relationship between Heaven and Man and the effort of human subjectivity with complete content and no missing slips.

The Tsinghua University houses nearly 2,500 precious bamboo slips from the Warring States period. The university’s research team has collated and studied the ancient documents since 2008. They have released their research results every year since 2011, with 13 volumes of the annual report published, covering compiled documents on classics and history, politics, astronomy, mathematics, and others.

This year’s collection covers the documents on the ceremonial dining system of the nobles as well as music and ideological literature.

Tsinghua University

Related Articles

Remains of a 5-year-old girl found under Real Alcázar in Spain

9 May 2021

9 May 2021

The body of a five-year-old fair-haired girl who lived in the late Middle Ages and was most likely of noble...

5,000-Year-Old Fortress Discovered in Romania Using LiDAR Technology

22 March 2025

22 March 2025

Archaeologists have unveiled a 5,000-year-old fortress hidden deep within the forests of Neamț County, Romania. This remarkable find, made possible...

Paleontologists say world’s oldest-known burial site found in South Africa

6 June 2023

6 June 2023

American explorer and scientist Lee Berger in South Africa said they have found the oldest-known burial site in the world,...

New fortification walls discovered in the ancient city of Pergamon

14 February 2022

14 February 2022

2,500-year-old fortification walls were found in the Ancient City of Pergamon (Bergama), which was included in the World Heritage List...

Evidence of a 1500-year-old Byzantine church found on the beach of Ashdod, Israel

22 February 2022

22 February 2022

Recent rain in Israel has unearthed the remains of a marble pillar dating to around 1,500 years ago on a...

Historical Armenian church 500-year-old in southeastern Turkey set to be restored

6 February 2022

6 February 2022

Work has been initiated to transfer the historical Armenian Church, which was built in the 16th century in the province...

1700-year-old Roman shoes and craft district found in France

3 June 2023

3 June 2023

An ancient Roman craft district was discovered by archaeologists working in the southwest of the town of Therouanne near a...

Archaeologists Uncovered a Roman-Era Clay Theater Ticket in Ancient City of Prusias ad Hypium

1 December 2024

1 December 2024

Excavations at the ancient city of Prusias Ad Hypium in the Konuralp region of Düzce in northwestern Türkiye have uncovered...

Discoveries on the island of Minorca shed light on the history of Roman conquests in the Balearic Islands

31 July 2021

31 July 2021

The University of Alicante Institute for Archeology and Historical Heritage (INAPH) Researchs discovered a collection of buried Roman antiquities going...

In Poland’s “Death Valley,” new evidence of Nazi atrocities

18 August 2021

18 August 2021

In October 1939, between 30,000 and 35,000 Polish intellectuals, Polish civilians, Jews and Czechs, and German prisoners from psychiatric institutions...

A Unique 2000-Year-Old Oil Lamp Found in Israel

5 May 2021

5 May 2021

Archaeologists have discovered a rare 2,000-year-old oil lamp in David, Jerusalem. Archaeologists have discovered a rare oil lamp, shaped like...

Archaeologists Discovered a Fragmentary Inscription in Cypriot Syllabary Found Dating to the Cypro-Archaic Period

1 December 2024

1 December 2024

During excavations at Palaepaphos, located within the municipal boundaries of the modern village of Kouklia-Martsello on the southwest coast of...

Archaeologists have found a previously unknown Roman city with buildings of monumental proportions in Spain’s Aragon Region

17 July 2022

17 July 2022

Archaeologists from the University of Zaragoza in Spain have discovered a previously unknown Roman city with buildings of monumental proportions....

Builders of Massive 6000-year-old Menga Dolmen Likely Understood Geometry and other “Early Science” Concepts

25 August 2024

25 August 2024

Researchers say that a new analysis of the 6000-year-old stone Menga (also known as the Dolmen of Menga), supported by...

Archaeologists find sunken ancient Egyptian warship under Abu Qir Bay

26 July 2021

26 July 2021

According to a press release by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Egyptian French archaeological mission of the...