A soup made 2,400 years ago was discovered in a tomb near where the terracotta army was discovered and near where the first emperor of China was buried, according to NTDTV.
The soup was made of bones, discovered in a bronze three-legged cauldron and found in a tomb in Xian, Shaanxi Province.
"It's the earliest-known discovery of its kind in Shaanxi Province," Liu Daiyun of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology said. "There isn't any report on similar archaeological findings that are earlier than this in the nation."
The soup was still liquid, but not edible. The liquid had turned green due to oxidation from the bronze cauldron and scientists say they will do more tests to see if the liquid was, in fact, soup.
"We discovered the left ribs of a cow next to the broken containers," Liu told AsiaOne. The cauldron is around eight inches high and 10 inches in diameter.
According to NTDTV, the tomb where the vessel was located is believed to have been that of a military officer. Archaeologists also found other vessels in nearby tombs but they were broken and did not contain much liquid inside.
In 1974, archaeologists found the now-famed terracotta army in tombs near Xian near the first emperor Qin Shi Huang's grave. Xian, formerly known as Chang'an, was the capital of China for more than 1,100 years.
"It's the first discovery of bone soup in Chinese archaeological history. The discovery will play an important role in studying the eating habits and culture of the Warring States Period (475BC– 221BC)," Liu told state-run The Global Times.
The Warring States period was a time when warlords took over and the country was deeply divided until the first emperor was said to have unified the country.
Several years ago, archaeologists discovered a pot of soup with noodles believed to be 4,000 years old near the Yellow River.
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