Home>News Center>Life
         
 

Cemetery of Western Han Dynasty discovered at Three Gorges
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-02-14 15:52

A huge cemetery from China's Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 24 A.D.) has been discovered at the Three Gorges area's Tujing town of southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

According to Fang Gang of the Chongqing archaeological squad, 62 burial pits with typical Western Han patterns were found withina scope of 2000 square meters at a large tableland alongside the Yangtze River.

The pits were orderly arranged in several rows and each row contained five to seven tombs with almost equal space among one another. The arranging pattern and the scale of the tombs were exactly like cemeteries today, said Fang.

Fang said that most tombs discovered were small and medium sized and the funerary objects unearthed were chiefly pottery, together with some adornments and weapons. Possibly it was a cemetery of civilians, said the archaeologist.

Most Han tombs discovered in this area were brick-chambered tombs and cliff burial tombs, Fang said, and it was the first timethat a Han cemetery had been unearthed here.

The big cemetery might indicate a large-scale settlement here, said Fang, and this would help a lot to study Chongqing's economy,culture and life patterns in the Western Han Dynasty.

 
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

Zoellick: US can't close door to Chinese goods

 

   
 

US, N. Korea bilateral contact lasts one hour

 

   
 

Capital, Hebei in row over river water use

 

   
 

Referendum provokes rise in tension

 

   
 

Import of two Isuzu autos suspended

 

   
 

Farmers to get direct subsidies from the state

 

   
  From hutong to who's who
   
  China's transsexual eyes Miss World crown
   
  Does Lee Ao's daughter complain too much?
   
  Chinese students' sexual evolution
   
  When literature falls across Internet
   
  Michael Jackson and ex-wife hired retired judge
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Guangdong unearthes 5,000-year-old resident
   
China selects "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries in 2001"
   
5,000-year-old "pyramid" discovered in North China
  Feature  
  Chang Hsiao-yen  
Advertisement