800-year-old tomb found in northern China

A brick and stone tomb dating back over 800 years has recently been discovered in Yuanqu County, northern China's Shanxi Province.

Credit: Boatou Daily News/Wang Feihang

The tomb was found near a nonferrous metal company office building during a tap water facility renovation project. Researchers, after evaluation, decided it was constructed during the Song and Jin dynasties (960-1234), according to the culture and tourism bureau of Yuanqu.

Some burial items including pots and porcelain bowls were unearthed in the tomb, about three meters underground.

Credit: Boatou Daily News/Wang Feihang

Credit: Boatou Daily News/Wang Feihang

"The tomb is well-preserved without marks of flooding, collapse or robbery," deputy director of the county's culture and tourism bureau Hou Xiaochao said. "It should be a couple's joint tomb built some 800 years ago."

Hou said the discovery is of great value to the study of the burial customs, lifestyle, architecture, clothes and craftsmanship at that time.

Source: Xinhua News Agency [June 27, 2019]