Ancient tomb of Marquis of Haihun excavated

Archaeologists excavated an ancient tomb in Haihun, Jiangxi Province, China. The tomb, dated to the Western Han Dynasty, contained numerous relics.

Excavation of the tomb (by People's Daily Online)
Excavation of the tomb (by People’s Daily Online)

The tomb was built for for the individual dubbed “Marquis of Haihun”. He was the grandson of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, whose reign was one of the most prosperous periods in China’s ancient history. Remains of the man were found within, lying on a coloured mat in a coffin. Beside him a jade seal was found, containing the name of the individual, named Liu He. Beneath the mat one hundred gold coins were discovered.

A trove of gold discovered within the tomb (by People's Daily Online)
A trove of gold discovered within the tomb (by People’s Daily Online)

Other items include a jade pillow, a number of jade discs of various sizes, a jade sword,  a total of 478 gold wares, and 5000 slips of bamboo writing paper. The gold find is the largest single batch of gold items ever found in the Han Dynasty (3rd century BC – 1st century AD) tomb. Laboratory analysis revealed writing on the bamboo slips, but further study is necessary to decipher it.

Bronze vessel from the tomb (by People's Daily Online)
Bronze vessel from the tomb (by People’s Daily Online)

(after People’s Daily Online)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.