Archaeologists reported a discovery of a 1500-year-old tomb of a woman who was adorned with unique jewellery, including a necklace of 5000 beads and golden earrings. The find was made in Datong City in China while surveying the area before a construction project.

The archaeologists excavating the area found a tomb witch contained the body of a woman named Farong. Such identification was possible due to the discovery of an epitaph by the tomb entrance translated as: “Han Farong, the wife of Magistrate Cui Zhen“. Her bones were found lying inside a coffin, but the remains survived in a very poor condition. The coffin was equipped with a pillow made of lime containing two bricks with rope patterns.

The earrings are made of gold and gemstones. They  contain images of dragons and a human figure with a pendant on its neck and and inverted lotus flowers carved on the shoulders. The distribution of the beads allowed for reconstruction of the necklace, which contained 10 large and small gold beads, nine flat gold pieces, 42 pearls, 2 crystals and over 4800 tiny glass beads.

The archaeologists discovered also two other tombs in the vicinity that are currently being examined. The documented artefacts were able to provide dating for the tomb, which is said to have been created a few decades before the collapse of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534). The dynasty controlled part of the northern China with Datong City serving as the capital until 494.

(after Live Science)