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03/29/2024 05:09:04 am

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2,000-Year Old Haihunhou Tomb of Western Han Dynasty, Occupant to be Revealed

2,000 year old tomb from Western han Dynasty, owner to be revealed

(Photo : Getty Images) The main tomb was located in the Haihunhou cemetery located near Nanchang City, the capital of East China Jiangxi Province.

The relics obtained from the main coffin of the tomb of Haihunhou, which is approximately 2,000 years old, will divulge the identity of the occupant, according to on-site archaeologists via Xin Hua News.

The main tomb was believed to belong to Liu He, the grandson of Emperor Wu, the seventh ruler of the Han Dynasty in China.

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The main tomb was located in the Haihunhou cemetery near Nanchang City, the capital of east China's Jiangxi Province. This excavation site is believed to be the most complete known Western Han Dynasty Cemetery.

The area covers 40,000 square meters that include eight tombs and a chariot burial site. It possessed walls that measure up to 900 meters.

There were three jade ornaments found that were intertwined with gold on the coffin.

"The swords may be a last thing to put into the tomb as a ritual when they buried the dead," said Xu Changqing, the director of the Changxi Cultural Relics Institute.

Yang Jun, the leader of the archaeological team revealed that the swords were deemed to be worn by the owner in paying homage to the emperor.

There are a lot of preserved relics contained in the main coffin and the archaeologists have considered transferring the main tomb to a laboratory for further analysis.

Further investigation of the relics will be done in hypoxic conditions or in an environment that has no oxygen. The archaeologists will use oxygen equipment, according to Yang.

The excavation process is estimated to take more than ten days.

"We are waiting for instructions from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage," said Xu.

More than 20,000 historical relics have been unearthed since the excavation commenced in 2011. Exquisite items were discovered such as a portrait of Confucius, three thousand wooden tablets, bamboo slips, bronze items, gold objects and even jade items.

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