A remarkably well-preserved female mummy wearing a gold crown and splendid silk clothes was found during work at a construction site in Jiangxi Province last week.

According to the local Institute of Archaeology, the tomb is 500 years old and belonged to a royal concubine of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The 155-centimeter-tall mummy was discovered to have smooth skin after archaeologists removed eight layers of silk, three sheets of binding cloth, and ten garments, and untied 11 fast knots.

Her tomb, 190 centimeters in length and 49 centimeters wide, was divided into four layers. The coffin was encased in thick layers of soil and rosin.

Plenty of funeral objects were also discovered, including two 70-centimeter jade pendants and one 16-centimeter jade tablet, five gold rings, and 65 gold and silver coins.

Fan Changsheng, director of the local Institute said that in the 1970s, archaeologists found a jade pendant and a jade tablet respectively in two royal tombs from the Ming Dynasty.

But this recent discovery was the first time two rare jade pieces had been found in one tomb, which suggests the tomb occupant may have held an important position.

The tomb has inestimable archaeological value for the research on Jiangxi local history during the Ming Dynasty, the archaeologists said.

( People's Daily December 10, 2001)