Xu Xinmin never thought of making headlines when he and his team first stepped into a vast paddy field in the southeast suburbs of Pinghu, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province.

The site, dating back 4,000 to 5,300 years, turned out to be the largest tomb area ever found belonging to the Liangzhu Culture of the New Stone Age.

The discovery will provide further hard evidence for historians to rewrite the lives of the primitive community who created Liangzhu Culture in the lower Yangtze River valley, covering today's Zhejiang and Shanghai.

At the site, archaeologists discovered 236 tombs in an area of 2,000 square meters, unearthing 2,600 funeral objects ranging from pottery ware, stone implements, jade ornaments and bone objects.

"To find such a large number of tombs of the Liangzhu Culture period is amazing," said Xu, leader of the archaeology team, also vice-director with the Archaeological Research Institute in Zhejiang Province.

The Zhuangqiaofen Site is located 13 kilometers southeast of Pinghu. It was first discovered in Qunfeng Village of the Lindai Town in late May, 2003 by a local farmer, who accidentally came across objects.

When he reported the find to the local culture station, Li and his team rushed to the site as they began salvage excavation on June 1, 2003.

"The tomb area was once a huge mound of earth, 1 meter high. It was turned into a paddy farmland for taking soil," Xu told China Daily.

Grave robbers had destroyed more than 10 pits when the archaeology team first got to the site. In the following 15-month excavation, archaeologists have been reporting fantastic finds on the tombs.

One of the interesting and significant finds is 162 tombs or nearly two-thirds of the total, piled one upon another and destroyed. "Such concentrated tombs in the style of packed tightly together was the first to be found in Zhejiang Province," according to Xu.

He explained the "packing tombs" (Dieya Dapo) means a new tomb is built upon an old one. During the construction of the new, the old is partly destroyed owning to limited space.

The largest packing tomb group in the Zhuangqiaofen Site is composed of 10 tombs.

Though the exact reason for the "packing tombs" is still unknown, it seems that ancient people buried in this area might have come from one big family tribe or worshiped the same ancestor, said Xu.

He speculates that the high concentration of tombs may also relate to the site's natural environment. The area is squeezed in between the sea and marshland. The dry land for the community was very limited.

At the large tomb site, researchers also discovered dogs and pigs used in the funeral ceremony. About 12 well-preserved dog skeletons lying in the same pit with their masters unearthed in the site.

Xu said the discovery of the dog or pig pits of the Liangzhu Culture period was also a first for China.

Experts believe these pits might be the place where people worshiped ancestors and gods.

Earliest plough

Among relics excavated from the site, a stone plough with a wooden bottom was first discovered in Zhejiang Province. It is also the earliest of its kind ever found in China.

"With a length of 1.06 meters, the huge plough shows that the farmland in ancient times was very large," Xu said.

As a plough must be pulled by animal such as the cow and controlled by a person, the total space between the animal and the person can reach 3-4 meters.

"It is a new discovery in the pre-historical period, which provides valuable material evidence for the study of the agricultural development in China," Xu said.

It also shows that the agriculture depending on ploughs had reached a high level in the area at that time, Xu added.

With regard to currently unearthed relics, Xu said the Zhuangqiaofen Site should be composed of a relatively large residential area, agricultural area and a tomb area.

At present, the first phrase of excavation is completed. The site is now under local government's protection for future excavation.

"With the excavation, the mystery of Liangzhu Culture will be gradually unveiled," Xu said.

(China Daily January 13, 2005)