21 November 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

Ruins of China’s earliest state academy found in east China

The ruins of ancient China‘s first government-run institution of higher learning, built in 374 BC, have been discovered in the Linzi District of Zibo City in east China’s Shandong Province, said the provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology.

Founded by the State of Qi during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), the Jixia Academy was a state institution of higher learning with multiple roles such as research institute, university and think tank, and had existed for more than 150 years.

The building complex was unearthed following a five-year excavation drive, and historical records confirmed it to be the Jixia Academy.

Source: Xinhua 

Four rows of building foundations have been found at the site, measuring about 210 meters from east to west at its widest and 190 meters long from north to south, with a total area of nearly 40,000 sq meters. The site is connected to the ancient capital city of Qi, and it appears as a right-angled trapezoid from above, according to archaeologists.

“Establishing the Jixia Academy was one of the major reforms of the state of Qi, which set the stage for a new social trend of great cultural and intellectual expansion at that time. The new discovery is of great significance for conducting further studies on Qi’s culture,” said Zheng Tongxiu, with the provincial archaeological society who is also the curator of the provincial museum.

Source: Xinhua 

Cover Photo: Photo provided by Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology on Feb. 21, 2022, shows a drainage pipe unearthed in a building complex site in east China’s Shandong Province. (Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology/Handout via Xinhua)

Related Articles

A stone bathtub, which is considered to be the first example of ‘water birth’, was found in Ani Ruins

7 September 2022

7 September 2022

A stone tub was found in the large bath, whose birth was mentioned in a work by the Turkish scholar...

Ancient tools discovered in Maryland show the first humans came to America 7,000 years earlier than previously thought

23 May 2024

23 May 2024

When and how humans first settled in the Americas is a subject of considerable controversy. A Smithsonian Institution geologist now...

Neanderthals too may have Developed a System of Numerical Notation

2 June 2021

2 June 2021

People developed numbers tens of thousands of years ago, according to archeological findings. Scholars are now investigating the first comprehensive...

Pompeii Reopening Antiquarium

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

The Antiquarium, a permanent museum within the Pompeii Archaeological pact, reopens. Opened in 1873, the Antiquarium was bombed during World...

British archaeologists unearth the 1200-year-old man-made island

13 February 2022

13 February 2022

A team holding excavations and archaeological surveys on the historic Al Sayah Island in Muharraq, Bahrain found that it’s ‘man-made’,...

5,500-year-old Menhir discovered in Portugal

28 August 2023

28 August 2023

A 5,500-year-old (that is around 3500 BC) menhir has been discovered in the town of São Brás de Alportel in...

In Peru, Archaeologists Discovered an Ancient Dance Floor that can Imitate Rumbling of Thunder

21 July 2023

21 July 2023

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient “sounding” dance floor in Peru that was designed to create a drum-like sound when stepped...

Study refutes previous assumptions, DNA evidence rewrites story of people buried in Pompeii eruption

8 November 2024

8 November 2024

Researchers from the University of Florence, Harvard University, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig analyzed the...

A rare sheep carriage and ancient chariots found near mausoleum of China’s first emperor

28 October 2023

28 October 2023

A rare “six-sheep” carriage and a four-wheeled wooden chariot were discovered near the mausoleum of Qinshihuang, China’s first Emperor during...

Oldest Direct Evidence for Honey Collecting in Africa

18 April 2021

18 April 2021

Honey is an important food source that has been considered a very important healing source in the history of civilizations....

Ancient Christian Settlement Discovered in Egypt

14 March 2021

14 March 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said on Saturday that a French-Norwegian archaeological team had discovered a new ancient Christian settlement...

The Oldest Known Neanderthal Engravings were Discovered in a French Cave

13 August 2023

13 August 2023

According to a recent study published, the oldest engravings made by Neanderthals have been discovered on a cave wall in...

“Non-returning” Aboriginal boomerangs were discovered in Cooper Creek dried-up riverbed

22 November 2021

22 November 2021

The drying waters of the Cooper Creek river have revealed extremely rare 4 boomerangs that have been partially buried. The...

490-Million-Year-Old Trilobites Could Solve Ancient Geography Puzzle

22 November 2023

22 November 2023

The humble trilobites may be extinct, but even as fossils, they can teach us much about our planet’s history. Indeed,...

Drought unveils sunken basilica in Turkey

14 October 2022

14 October 2022

The sunken basilica remains discovered in 2014 became visible as a result of Lake Iznik’s water withdrawal. Climate change is...