A pottery fragment found in Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture, bears the left half of the Chinese character “zhou” at its right edge. (Photo: Iki Board of Education)
Tokyo (People’s Daily) - A fragment of earthenware engraved with the Chinese character “zhou” was excavated at the site of Karakami in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, according to Asahi Shimbun.
The left half of the character was found on the shard, which is estimated to date back to the first to third century. The character is believed to have been etched with a sharp tool on the finished piece, the report said.
The pottery fragment, 8.8 centimeters tall, 7.5 centimeters wide and 4 centimeters thick, was likely part of a basin. The shape of the pottery indicates that it was probably produced in China’s Liaodong Peninsula and then fetched to Ikinoshima via the Korean Peninsula.
Karakami is a site of ancient village, where a number of earthenware shards have been excavated. The fragment will go on display at the city-run Ikikoku Museum from January 13 to February 25.
