After five months of exploration and salvage, a group of large scale ancient tombs surfaced in Chongqing Wushan's old county.
According to experts, this group of tombs were densely packed and preserved in a very good condition. These finds date back to the period between the Warring States (475B.C.-221B.C) and Six Dynasties (3rd-6th Century A.D). Up till now, they are comparatively rare in the reservoir area of the Three Gorges.
According to the Wushan Cultural Relic Management Bureau, the area of the tombs, located at the slope of a middle school in Wushan's old county, is about 2,500 square meters.
The total number of excavated tombs is over one hundred, with over one thousand pieces of cultural relics. Since last August, the staff of the Hubei Wuhan Cultural Relics Research Institute had been preoccupied with the excavation of these newly-found tombs.
(Chinanews.cn February 25, 2005)