Tomb opening canceled in NW China's Shaanxi

Archaeologists have decided against opening a tomb in China's ancient capital of Xi'an and have instead turned their efforts to protecting relics discovered in a side chamber.

"We found some lacquer and bamboo trunks in the tomb's side chamber, which was opened on Saturday afternoon," Zhang Zhongli, leader of the archaeological excavation team, was quoted as saying by Friday's China Daily.

"And since the relics could be easily damaged when they were moved, we decided to close the side chamber again using plastic sheeting and the ancient bricks that had closed the chamber and to make a proper plan to better protect the relics."

"We sprayed protective chemicals once every 3 hours after the side chamber had been opened," said Zhao Xichen, of Shaanxi archaeological research institute. The tomb was never plundered by robbers, making it the only one to have that distinction among the 14 tombs in the family cemetery of Zhang Anshi (?-62 BC), a famous general in the Western Han Dynasty.