Tea buried in the Han Yangling mausoleum
Plant remains recovered from the tomb complex of Emperor Jing of Han near Xi'an were identified as tea leaf buds through phytolith and biomolecular analysis, giving the earliest secure physical evidence of tea anywhere. Comparable remains from the Gurgyam cemetery in Ngari, western Tibet, dated to around the second to third century CE, show tea already moving across the Tibetan Plateau. Together they push documented tea consumption and long-distance tea movement several centuries earlier than textual records alone allowed.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Tea · trade good · not located
- Camellia sinensis · plant species · Yunnan–Assam borderlands · not located
- Tea culture · cultural practice · not located
Evidence
Verified — Every field is supported by a cited authoritative source.
Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau
Phytolith and biomolecular analysis identifies tea in the Han Yangling mausoleum (c. 2nd century BCE) and at Gurgyam, Ngari, western Tibet (c. 2nd–3rd century CE), evidencing early tea consumption and overland movement.
Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) · 2016-01-07 · Verified
Lu H. et al., Scientific Reports, vol. 6, article 18955 (2016), DOI 10.1038/srep18955; PMC4704058, PMID 26738699
Recorded on Tea
- Tea buried in the Han Yangling mausoleum
- Tea-for-horse exchange between China and Tibet
- Tea first shipped to Europe by sea
- Qing trade confined to Canton
- Boston Tea Party
- Commutation Act cuts British tea duty
- Robert Bruce shown tea growing in Assam
- East India Company's China monopoly ends; Tea Committee founded
- The Opium Wars
- First Assam tea auctioned in London
- First tea planted at Darjeeling
- Treaty of Nanking
- Robert Fortune removes tea plants and tea makers from China
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Robert Fortune removes tea plants and tea makers from China · 1848–1851
- Treaty of Nanking · 1842-08-29
- First tea planted at Darjeeling · 1841
- First Assam tea auctioned in London · 1839-01-10
- The Opium Wars · 1839–1860
- East India Company's China monopoly ends; Tea Committee founded · 1834
- Robert Bruce shown tea growing in Assam · 1823
- Commutation Act cuts British tea duty · 1784