Prehistoric Chinese knew use of diamond

[Dover]

Prehistoric Chinese knew use of diamond
(Xinhua)

Updated: 2005-02-17 15:52


Ancient Chinese craftsmen might have learned to use diamonds to grind and polish ceremonial stone burial axes as long as 6,000 years ago, US researchers said Wednesday.

Researchers at Harvard University have uncovered strong evidence that the ancient Chinese used diamonds with a level of skill difficult to achieve even with modern polishing techniques.

The finding, reported in the February issue of the journal Archaeometry, places this earliest known use of diamond worldwide thousands of years earlier than the gem is known to have been used elsewhere.

Scientists had put the earliest use of diamond around 500 BC, for the earliest authors to refer what is likely diamond, Manilius and Pliny the Elder, lived in Rome during the first century AD...>>

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/17/content_417199.htm

[On the Road]

1. So There Were Diamond Mines 6,000 Years Ago?

This is pretty amazing. But if anyone were doing it, I'm not surprised it was the Chinese.

[elehhhhna]

2. diamonds can be found in rivers and creek-beds, lIIRC, not just mined..-