By IANS,
Beijing : A tomb that is more than 2,000 years old has been excavated in northeast China’s Liaoning province.
The tomb, part of cluster that archaeologists began excavating in 1999, lies 5.5 meters underground and covers an area of 72 square metres in Dongdazhangzi village.
It dates back to the Warring States era (475-221 B.C.), said Guo Dashun, an archaeologist with the Liaoning Institute of Archaeology.
It is the largest tomb from the period ever excavated north of the Great Wall, making it of great academic value, said Guo.
“It is an ancient tomb combining the burial customs of the local minority and the Central Plains of China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River,” Xinhua quoted Guo as saying.
As of November 2011, archaeologists working on the cluster have located 137 ancient tombs, cattle skulls and pottery in the style of the central plains of China.
It is extremely rare to find such a large amount of ancient tombs north of the Great Wall.