This photo shows a bronze seal excavated from a recently discovered tomb in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xianyang institute of cultural relics and archaeology/Handout via Xinhua)
XI'AN, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- A total of 237 tombs from about 2,000 years ago were discovered in Shaanxi Province, northwest China, said local archaeologists.
The tombs, from the late Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC), were found on the outskirts of Xianyang City. They were about 11 kilometers from ruins of a Qin kingdom palace.
At the site archaeologists also found 13 tombs from the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220), three from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), one from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), two from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and seven from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), as well as ruins of four Tang Dynasty kilns. A total of 878 cultural relics were unearthed, including bronzeware, jade articles, stone objects, iron pieces, and pottery.
Archaeologists have excavated 805 tombs between 1995 and 2022 near this cluster, 95 percent of which were dated to the late Warring States Period, according to the Xianyang institute of cultural relics and archaeology.
The two clusters were close enough in space and time to form a large graveyard of civilians, which supports the proposal that the eastern suburb of Xianyang City some 2,000 years ago was a burial site. ■
This photo shows potteries and other relics excavated from recently discovered tombs in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xianyang institute of cultural relics and archaeology/Handout via Xinhua)
