Today in History—April 28: Chinese Tomb Discovery Upends the History of Paper

Picture Indiana Jones swapping his fedora for a Han dynasty helmet, dodging booby traps in dusty Chinese tombs. On this day in 1986, Chinese archaeologists announced a real-life blockbuster: the discovery of more than 400 artifacts from the Fangmatan site in Gansu province, including the world’s oldest surviving paper map fragment.

The site, nestled in the Qinling Mountains near Tianshui, contained 14 excavated tombs—13 from the Qin state’s Warring States period (475–221 bce) and 1 from the early Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–25 ce).

Inside the latter tomb, this scrap—resting on the occupant’s chest—proved that paper existed in China during the early Western Han period. The fragment displayed waterways, mountains, and roads.

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The discovery pushed back the accepted history of papermaking by roughly 300 years. Previously a Chinese court official named Cai Lun had traditionally received credit for inventing paper—about 105 ce.

Other finds included lacquerware, bronze objects, slivers of bamboo bearing inscriptions, and several maps drawn on pine boards. Seven wooden maps from Tomb 1 added another distinction: Drawn in black ink, depicting river systems, they constitute the oldest known physical maps in China.

Tomb 1 also yielded numerous bamboo slivers from the Warring States period. Among them was a collection called “Tales of the Strange,” containing what scholars consider the earliest known example of Chinese supernatural fiction.

It tells the story of Dan, a man who stabbed someone, took his own life in remorse, and was then buried. Three years later a white fox dug up his grave. Naturally, Dan becomes a ghost, and he travels north. After four years Dan’s ghost partially recovers his senses. Eventually the increasingly inconvenient Dan begins to dispense advice on how the living should properly feed and clothe the dead.

Some experts believe Dan may actually be Tomb 1’s occupant. Make of that what you will.