Intact Tang Dynasty tomb found in China

Pristine wall art and delicate pots have been found inside a stunning thousand-year-old imperial tomb unearthed by Chinese builders of a school sports field.

Credit: Xue Sheng/Shanxi Evening News

The underground chamber – believed to be one of several rooms – was located underneath Xiaojingyu Elementary School in the city of Taiyuan.

The school field was undergoing renovations, with workers sinking new foundations when they unintentionally punched through the ceiling of the burial chambers.

Credit: Xue Sheng/Shanxi Evening News

They are believed to date back to the Tang Dynasty, one of the greatest empires in the medieval world that ruled from 618 to 907 AD.

Officials said the perfectly preserved murals and pottery appeared to be from the middle of the Tang Dynasty.

Credit: Xue Sheng/Shanxi Evening News

A cultural relics expert told local media the work bears the style of a roughly half-century period known as ‘Sheng Tang’, when the dynasty flourished between 713 and 766 AD.

A tombstone inside the burial chamber suggested the individual laid to rest underground was ‘not a commoner’. Their exact identity remains shrouded in mystery, however.

Credit: Xue Sheng/Shanxi Evening News

The Tang era is seen by many historians as an era of progress as well as the greatest period for Chinese poetry.

Chinese civilisation flourishing during the first half of the dynasty before the empire eventually collapsed under social unrest.

Credit: Xue Sheng/Shanxi Evening News

Construction work at Xiaojingyu Elementary School, which is in Taiyuan’s Wanbailin District, has been halted since the discovery.

An official said further excavations into the tomb would not be easy due to the primary school’s teaching buildings nearby.

The work will require extensive negotiations with the school, which could be asked to relocate and have its building demolished.

Author: Tim Collins | Source: Daily Mail [August 21, 2019]