2000-Year-Old Almanac Found in Suizhou Hubei Province

On December 30, 2000, the Museum of the Suizhou City in Central China's Hubei Province revealed that nine months ago they unearthed 78 precious bamboo slips with order of solar periods and seasons written on them. The slips recorded some ancient calendric knowledge, including Tian Gan (heavenly stems), Di Zhi (earthly branches), and 24 solar terms. Experts said that the bamboo slips could be called a 2000-year-old almanac.

The bamboo slips were 24-27 centimeters long and 0.6 centimeters wide and were among more than 600 slips discovered in an ancient Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD) tomb.

Experts said that the discovery of so many Western Han Dynasty bamboo slips was rare. And the 78 slips were precious relics with high scientific value.