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Chinese historians and archaeologists have discovered the oldest known section of the Great Wall of China, with its construction beginning 300 years earlier than previously thought. During excavations in the Changqing district of Jinan city in eastern China, researchers from the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discovered fragments of the Great Wall, built of rammed earth, stone, wood and other materials.
Using radiocarbon dating and optically stimulated luminescence of the recovered artifacts, archaeologists determined that the wall fragments date to the late Western Zhou Dynasty (770s BC), rather than the early Warring States Period (475-221 BC). This pushes back the construction of the Great Wall by at least 300 years.
