According report on Yangtze Evening Post, the Cultural Relics Department of Shaanxi Province unearthed nine guzhi ya chou, which are a rare kind of primitive calculator made out of teeth and bone, inside a Han Dynasty tomb in Luochuan County in the northern part of the province.
Archaeologists said the guzhi ya chou might be a kind of tool used when ancient people were drinking wine and reciting poems or as a kind of calculator.
According to Ci Hai, a well-known Chinese lexicon and character dictionary, first published in 1936, the guzhi ya chou is made from ivory or the bones of animals and can be used to make calculations based on the movements. Many history books and famous poems have records of the guzhi ya chou.
It is the first time that the bone calculators have been found in northern Shaanxi Province, and they have great significant for studying local burial customs and the changing processes.
Author: Wang Hanlu | Source: People's Daily Online [September 17, 2010]
