While Greek sculptors made the legendary Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus, one of the world's Seven Wonders, in Turkey over
2,300 years ago, Chinese kings and aristocrats were building
hundreds of tombs in this ancient capital of the Eastern Zhou
Dynasty (770-256 B.C.).
Up to 397 tombs and 18 sacrificial pits for horses and
horse-drawn vehicles of the time have been found lying within a
mere 6,000 sq. m. area in Luoyang city in central China's Henan
Province. Historians believe the mausoleum was destroyed as early
as the 11th century.
Archaeologists found the tombs at a construction site in the
central square in the downtown city. The site is referred to as
graveyards for noble families of the period in local records.
A sacrificial horse pit, believed to be the largest of its kind
discovered so far in Luoyang, is under excavation with experts on
hand eager to unravel its secrets. Horses and vehicles used to be
buried alongside human bodies to indicate the dead person's status
in ancient China.
So far, Chinese archaeologists have unearthed 98 tombs in the
grave ruins, in which 95 belongs to the Eastern Zhou Dynastry, two
belongs to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC) and one, the Han
Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD).
The unearthed Zhou tombs, containing earthenware, bronze weapons
and jade articles, have been categorized as those for common
people, while two bigger ones, with bronze pits, musical
instruments and other articles for sacrifice ceremony, belonged to
noble families, according to the experts.
The discovery would provide valuable clues in the study of the
funeral culture and tomb styles of the period, the experts
said.
So far over 1,000 tombs from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty have been
excavated across the city.
A 1950s archaeological search discovered 260 tombs of the same
period in the city, and the findings helped clarify the time-frame
for earthenware use in ancient central China.
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)