Ming Dynasty Stone Grenades Discovered Near Great Wall of China

In a recent discovery near the Great Wall of China in Beijing, a collection of ancient stone grenades dating back 400 years has been unearthed. These grenades carry messages instructing guards to be vigilant against potential threats.

The new finding sheds light on the diverse range of early gunpowder weaponry from the Ming dynasty era. The Ming Dynasty governed China from 1368 to 1644, according to Tonio Andrade, a history professor at Emory University in Atlanta, who was not part of this discovery.

In an email to Live Science, Andrade put forth the idea that the Ming dynasty could be considered the world’s earliest ‘Gunpowder Empire.’

‘Bombs were one of the first killer apps’

Gunpowder is believed to have been created in China during the 900s. When the Ming dynasty began, a variety of gunpowder weapons were already in use in East Asia.

These weapons had imaginative names like “flying rats,” “fire bricks,” “caltrop fire balls,” and “ten-thousand fire flying sand magic bombs,” as described by Andrade.

Andrade also explained that bombs were one of the earliest ‘killer apps’ for harm. These bombs were crafted from either stone or iron and could be thrown by hand, launched with a catapult, or propelled by a trebuchet.

Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported that a team of archaeologists found 59 of these stone grenades in the remains of a storage building located next to the Badaling Great Wall. This particular section of the wall was constructed by the Ming dynasty and is situated roughly 50 miles (about 80 kilometers) northwest of present-day Beijing, China.

While no photographs of these objects have been made public at this time, it is likely that they bear resemblance to the handheld “thunder-crash bombs” created during the same era in China. These bombs were typically created using pottery shells, reported Live Science.

Stone bombs sealed and thrown, causing an explosion

Once filled with gunpowder, these grenades could be securely sealed and then thrown. This act not only resulted in hitting the enemy but also triggered an explosion, as explained by Shang Heng, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Archaeology.

He noted that this discovery marks the first instance of finding a storage facility for weapons along the Great Wall.

Ma Lüwei, an archaeologist with expertise in ancient Chinese military history, shared with the state-owned newspaper Global Times that these weapons were easy to produce and convenient for soldiers positioned on the Great Wall to toss down at potential invaders.

While contemporary grenades are renowned for their powerful explosions, early grenades had a different purpose – they were more likely to ignite fires, according to Andrade.