2000-Year-Old Tomb Discovered In Northwestern China

AncientPages.com - An ancient tomb has been discovered by a construction team working in a village of Datong Hui, in Datong County, in northwestern China's Qinghai Province, according to Chen Rong, deputy head of the county's cultural relic management bureau.

Based on the crafting techniques of bricks and pottery found at the site, the tomb is about 2,000 years old and dates to the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220), a very powerful dynasty of ancient China that lasted longer than any other Chinese empire.

The discovered tomb belonged to a rich male around 40 to 50 years old, judging by his skull, though his identity is not yet known.

Experts have taken bone and pottery fragments to local labs for further inspection.

The eastern Qinghai region, where Datong is located, is an important gateway linking China's inland and western regions, so further excavation and confirmation of the occupant's identity will contribute to the study of cultural exchange between the two areas during the Han Dynasty.

The Han dynasty rose to power in 202 B.C., and greatly expanded the empire. Conquests were made in south China, Annam (northern Vietnam), and Korea. The Huns north of the Great Wall were subdued.

Han conquests, westward as far as present Afghanistan, brought about trade with the Middle East by way of the Silk Road through Central Asia.

China exported vast quantities of silk westward, much of it reaching the Roman Empire.

The Han adopted a Confucian ideology that emphasized moderation and virtue and thereby masked the authoritarian policies of the regime.

Scholars edited the classics and discovered and copied many old texts. The first Chinese encyclopedia was compiled. Paper was invented.

Buddhism was introduced from India.

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