Bamboo Strips Identify 2,000-Year Fugitive
Chinese archeologists have unearthed more than 23,000 bamboo strips inscribed with writings from the Han Dynasty and including the earliest-known “wanted” poster, the New China News Agency reported Sunday.
The strips, found in the Gansu province of remote northwestern China, record events from the year 9 BC, during the reign of Emperor Wuti, to AD 111, during the reign of Emperor Anti, the official agency said.
Among the strips are three that the agency called “China’s earliest ‘wanted’ circular,” ordering the arrest of a maid who ran away from the mansion of a royal relative. Also on the strips are legal procedures for civil lawsuits, descriptions of 52 types of weapons for defense, details on the civil-servant retirement system and rules for border troops.
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