By Xinhua
Jingan (China) : Chinese archaeologists have excavated a 2,500-year old tomb containing 47 coffins in east China's Jiangxi province and called it the most important discovery in recent years.
The tomb, in Lijia village in Jing'an county, is 16 meters long, about 11.5 meters wide, three meters deep and is believed to date back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-221 B.C.).
Archaeologists opened ten coffins on Sunday, finding a relatively complete human skeleton as well as many bronze, gold and silk items, porcelain and jade.
Experts were yet to decide the causes of death, the burial date and why the dead were buried together, said Fan Changsheng, director of the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.
A multidiscipline group of experts have been working on the discovery that could provide valuable clues to social customs, funeral rites and lifestyles in the area, experts said.