Archaeologists have discovered a group of ancient tombs dating back nearly a thousand years ago at a highway construction site in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Experts from the municipal archaeological and cultural relic institute said Monday most of the tombs were built during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and that the discovery provided "important tangible evidence" for the study of the culture and traditions as well as the ancient funeral customs in the area.

The excavation began in June and 13 tombs, including several for couples, and cultural relics were found at the construction site at the Luohan Village of Tonglan County, said Cao kuanning, leader of the archaeologist team, who declined to give more information about the recovered cultural relics

"The tomb group features a large scale and a long time-span as we also found some tombs from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), providing us a perfect "lab" to study the differences in the funeral traditions of the three dynasties," said Cao.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2005)