Page 482 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China
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The principle of its construction, similar to that
of a ship's compass, was first described in the west
by the Italian philosopher and mathematician
Hieronymus Cardanus (1501-1576) in De Subtilitate
(1550) but had been known in China since the
4
Western Han dynasty (206 BCE - 24 CE). RW
1 Famensi 1988,13, fig. 13, item 12.
2 Lu and Han 1985, pis. 26 - 27, 28 - 29.
3 Excavated in 1987 (FD5: 081); reported: Shaanxi 19883,16,
17 fig. 17.
4 Brinker and Goepper 1981, 341.
481 FAMEN M O N A S T E R Y AT FUFENC
