A 1,700-year old tomb belonging to the Six Dynasties (222-589) has been unearthed in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.

According to archaeologists with the Nanjing City Museum, the 21.5 meters by 14.4 meters brick grave is the largest tomb of the Six Dynasties ever discovered in Nanjing used to be the capital of the dynasties of the Western Jin, Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen.

The remaining section of the passageway linking entrance with main chamber of the tomb are measured at 10.5 meters long and 4.1 to 4.25 meters wide, said Jiang Zanchu, an expert of the museum.

"The length of the tomb is over 20 meters, which is believed the longest among the discovered tombs in the Six Dynasties," the expert said.

The two major tombs of the Six Dynasties period found in Hubei and Anhui provinces reported 14.5 meters and 17.68 meters long respectively.

In terms of structure, the Nanjing-based tomb is more luxury than the Hubei and Anhui graves. It boasts surrounding walls, passageway and front and rear chambers both decorated with arched roofs.

The tomb owner could be a high-ranking noble of the Eastern Wu, one of the kingdoms in early period of the Six Dynasties, judging by the structural design, pattern of coins and tomb bricks, as well as some rare historical relics excavated from the tomb, such as a stone lampstand carved in shape of beast head.

Source: Xinhua