Tomb excavation still holds suspense

At this stage, archaeologists have finished the major part of the excavation work of the M40 tombs. And as we mentioned earlier, a lot of pottery pieces have been unearthed. But archaeologists still have not found any bronze artefacts, which is what they expected the most.

As the major part of the excavation work is finished, M40 tombs removed its more than 2000 year long veil. Precious relics like agate rings, clothes hooks, stone ware, and a large quantity of colored pottery were unearthed in the bottom of the 5.5-meter deep tomb that covers an area of 72 square meters.

These high-level funerary items show that its owner was of high rank. However, archaeologists have not found any bronze artefacts. It's an important difference because in other large tombs discovered before, it was the bronze ware that revealed the identity of the tomb owner.

Wang Wei, dir. archaeology inst. of Chiness Academy of Social Science, said, "We expected to find a lot of sacrificial bronze vessels and utensils in the tombs, and it should be, because several bronze artefacts were unearthed near these tombs and the tomb owner was of high-rank. But here, we didn't find any. The tomb master probably preferred these colored potteries over bronzes. We need to do more study."

The excavation is now in its final stage, but the mystery of the bronze wares is still keeping the researchers in suspense.

Also, there is a saying in the archaeology field that "there must be an ancient city around a tomb cluster." And already, archaeologists have discovered a kiln site near the tombs. Tombs and a kiln, powerful evidence that an ancient city lies hidden nearby.

Hua Yubing, deputy director of Liaoning Institue of Archaeology, said, "Since it's a large tomb cluster, there probably is an ancient city in the vicinity. So, we need to do more research."

To ensure that this story continues to unfold, a protection project for the tomb cluster and related sites will be launched in the near future.