|
Boat-Shape
Coffins Unearthed in Chengdu
|
????Chinese archeologists
have unearthed nine 2,500-year-old tombs in the shape of boats
in the city of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
????The tombs are located in a pit which is
30 meters long, 21 meters wide and 2.2 meters deep. The largest
one has a length of 18.75 meters, believed to be the longest ever
found in China.
????"This was a graveyard of an imperial
family in ancient Shu Kingdom in early or mid-stage of the Warring
States period (BC475-BC221). The pit should have 30 coffins if
grave robbers didn't damage it," said Wang Yi, head of the
archeological team.
????Also unearthed from the pit were hundreds of objects including
pottery, bronze spear and dagger-axe, lacquerware and bamboo.
????This is a major archeological discovery
in Sichuan. The excavation provides important material for the
study of the historical, cultural and burial system in the Shu
Kingdom, said Yu Weichao, vice-president of the Archaeological
Society of China.
(People's Daily 01/16/2001)
|
