Archaeologists: 'Globalization' occurred 4,000 years ago

There was cultural exchange on the Eurasia continent more than 4,000 years ago, according to archaeologists at the international scientific seminar held in Ordos inside China's Inner Mongolia region on Aug. 25.

As one of the agriculture originated centers, the wheat and barley in west Asia was introduced from the West to the East. Millet, which originated in China, was also introduced to the West. The expansion of the horse and carriage as well as the technology integration of copper production also happened at that time.

Professor Martin Jones, archaeologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, said that before the Silk Road was opened, there was a culture exchange road that ran through the north grassland of Eurasia. Culture, population, wares and plants migrated on this road frequently.

According to Zhao Zhijun, a researcher from the Archeology Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China's plants were introduced to the West about 1,000 years later than Western plants were introduced to China.

For example, the world's earliest artificially cultivated millet and glutinous millet was discovered in Chifeng in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and was proven to be 7,700 to 8,000 years old, which is 2,000 to 2,700 years earlier than the earliest specimens discovered in the middle Europe.

Through the four-day seminar, themed "Ordos Bronze and early Eastern and Western cultures," the experts from both home and abroad have discussed the archaeological discoveries in recent years. Ordos' role in the Western and Eastern cultural exchange has also been proven.

Speculation about the existence of a "Eurasian Steppe Channel," also known as the "North Steppe Channel" by Chinese experts, was first made by a European expert at the end of the 19 century. After more than 100 years of research, the channel's significant role in the Western and Eastern culture exchange has become clearer.

By Wang Qianyuanxue, People's Daily Online