A 2.8-centimeter-long stone-carved silkworm chrysalis, with a maximum diameter of 1.2 cm, is discovered in Wenxi county, Yuncheng. [Photo/Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology] 

Archeologists discovered a stone-carved silkworm chrysalis from about 5,200 years ago in Wenxi county, Yuncheng, North China's Shanxi province in June.

According to the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, the 2.8-centimeter-long stone-carved silkworm chrysalis was unearthed in a semi-crypt house at the Shangguo relics site in the southeastern part of the county. The house dates back to the early period of the late Yangshao Culture, an ancient civilization that existed in the middle reaches of the Yellow River between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago.

Tian Jianwen, a researcher at the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, said that in the past 100 years, relics related to silkworm culture have been unearthed in many places in Yuncheng.

These cultural relics show that people living during the Yangshao Culture in southern Shanxi had already raised silkworms. The new discovery of the stone-carved silkworm chrysalis provides important clues for research into the origin and spread of silk, as well as the study of the silk weaving industry in southern Shanxi in ancient times.