Archaeologists unveil deluxe carriage from 2,500 years ago
Beijing: Archaeologists at the archaeology research institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have unveiled the details of a deluxe carriage unearthed in a cemetery dating back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B.C.) in north China’s Hebei Province.
According to the archaeologists, the carriage is 142.5 cm wide, 106 cm in length and has two wheels with a diameter of 140 centimeters and 38 spokes each. The large volume of the carriage is rare for those that date back to the times before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.), said Li Cunxin, an associate researcher, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
The archaeologists also found many exquisite patterns painted on the surface of the carriage and a pair of beast-shaped metal badges embedded into the carriage that have gold foil decorations stuck to them, which still hold their shine even after being underground for such a long period of time.
Researchers speculated that the occupant of the cemetery was high up in the social pecking order and could be at the level of a tribal leader.
The archaeological team is currently trying to further unveil the details of the carriage via various technologies before fully restoring the finding in the future. (UNI)
Myanmar seizes heroin haul worth $4.7m: police
Yangon: Myanmar has seized 370 kilogrammes (815 pounds) of heroin worth USD 4.7 million during a raid in the northeast, police said, the latest big bust in the world’s second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan. Weak rule of law and conflict-riddled border areas allow industrial-size trade in heroin, pills and crystal methamphetamine — known as ice — to flourish, even as massive drug seizures routinely grab headlines. The most recent narcotics batch was discovered in a truck outside a monastery near the Shan state capital Taunggyi on Saturday night, police said in a statement Sunday. Two men were arrested after officers found them with “62 bags containing 170kg of white heroin and 200kg of brown heroin”, it said, referring to colours indicating levels of purity. The bust was worth a little more than 7 billion kyat, or nearly $4.7 million. Authorities in the area could not be reached for additional comment. Though still vast, the cultivation of opium — the base ingredient for heroin — has declined in Myanmar as demand for methamphetamine surges. In 2017, 41,000 hectares (101,300 acres) of land were being used to grow poppies compared to 55,000 hectares in 2015, according to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In the 1970s and 1980s, Myanmar was the leader in global opium production in the Golden Triangle. (AFP)