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China: Records of comets from a silk manuscript, Mawangdui Tomb 3, Changhsa, c. 300 BCE

China: Records of comets from a silk manuscript, Mawangdui Tomb 3, Changhsa, c. 300 BCE

Mawangdui (Chinese: 馬(马)王堆; pinyin: Mǎwángduī; literally: 'King Ma's Mound') is an archaeological site located in Changsha, China. The site consists of two saddle-shaped hills and contained the tombs of three people from the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE – 9 CE): Marquis Li Cang, his wife, and a male believed to have been their son. The site was excavated from 1972 to 1974.

The Mawangdui silk, a 'textbook' of types of comet and the various disasters associated with them, was compiled sometime around 300 BCE, but the knowledge it encompasses is believed to date as far back as 1500 BCE

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