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DNA detects foreign labor in a terra-cotta warriors pit
www.chinanews.cn 2006-06-29 16:37:36
Chinanews, Xi'an, Jun. 29 �C By using DNA testing methods, Chinese
archeologists announced yesterday that they had discovered some human
remains in a terra-cotta warriors pit that showed traits of people living
in western Euro-Asian region some 2,200 years ago. The human remains were
found to be laborers of the Qingshihuang Mausoleum.
So far, ten cases have been discovered in the world showing traits of
people identified as the ��western Euro-Asian T group��. They were the
Parsis people who believed in Zoroastrianism religion, the Persian people
and the Kurdish people. The discovery of the human remains in the
Qingshihuang Mausoleum indicated that way back in the Western Han
Dynasty, the Asian people and western Euro-Asian people had already kept
in close contact with each other, or even had gene exchanges.
This is the first time China discovered that foreign laborers had come to
China some 2,200 years ago, said Duan Qingbo, head of the Qingshihuang
Mausoleum archeological research team and research fellow from the
Shannxi Institute of Archeology.
According to Tan Jingze, associate professor from the Modern Anthropology
Research Center of the Shanghai-based Fudan University, said that from
ethnic point of view, western Euro-Asian people are Europeans. She said
that before Qinshihuang founded the Qin Dynasty, large-scale exchanges
between different ethnic groups was very rare, although occasional
exchange might have been possible.
Tan presumed that the foreign laborer discovered in the Qingshihuang
Mausoleum might have been among those pressganged into corvee labor.
Although genetic test showed that he had western Euro-Asian traits, he
might not be the first generation to come there. Right now, it was still
unclear which generation he belonged to.
The tomb where the foreign laborer remains were discovered is located 500
meters away from the Qingshihuang Mausoleum Museum. The Qingshihuang
Mausoleum archeological research team happened to discover the remains
when they were doing some cleaning work at an ancient kiln site near the
Qingshihuang Mausoleum. A total of 121 human bodies were excavated inside
the tomb, all being builders of the mausoleum. Archeologists have done
DNA tests to 50 human remains inside the tomb.
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