[CND, 11/20/97] Chinese archaeologists have claimed to have found
the world's oldest numerated map among the artifacts from a 1970s dig in
Hebei Province's Pingshan County, AFP reports. The map's significance was
not realized until this year.
Antiquities researcher DU Naisong said that "It is not only the oldest map
ever found in China but the oldest map noted with numerals in the world."
The map, estimated to be 2,300 years old, depicts in 1/500th scale a
portion of what is now northern Hebei province and details the royal
mausoleums of WANG Cuo, the fifth king of the Zhongshan Kingdom. (Phil
STEPHENS, Ray ZHANG)