Archaeologists have unearthed more than 70 ancient tombs of noble families in Jintang County of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Investigations show the region has over 40 tombs dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), more than 20 tombs to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and over 10 tombs to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties.

To date, all the tombs have been unearthed with the aim of cultural relics protection. Standing at a construction site covering an area of 800 mu (about 53 ha), the tombs were built in brick form or earthen structures.

The majority of tombs built in the Han Dynasty had five or three chambers made of brick. Many had been robbed.

The largest tomb, belonging to the Han Dynasty, is about nine meters long and four meters wide, in which a stone coffin was found.

According to archaeologists, the earth around these tombs was pounded and they were surprised to see that tomb bricks were carved with fine patterns of strings of beads, rhombus, dragons and phoenixes.

The experts said the tombs belonged to noble families of the dynasties during a period of 1,000 years, judging from the size of the tombs, building materials and funeral objects.

"It is clear the families enjoyed a high social status because the funeral objects are valuable," said Wang Yi, director of local archaeological research institute.

Besides abundant pottery ware, bronze items and coins, archaeologists also unearthed ten stone figure-shaped sculptures.

"Such stone sculptures were used to decorate tomb chambers and are only seen at the ancient tombs of the nobility," Wang said.

The sculptures are of great significance in studying the ancient culture and funeral rituals in the area.

Source: Xinhua