Chinese archaeologists have discovered six tombs in Yunyang County dating back more than 1,900 years, and unearthed a large number of pottery utensils. Yunyang County is in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Located in Jiangkou Town, the brick tombs are in knife, square and triangular shapes. Archaeologists discovered that the earth around these tombs had been pounded and were surprised to see that the tomb bricks were carved with fine patterns of net strings, rhombus and animals.

Cao Kuanning, who participated in the recent excavation at the site, said judging from the size of the tombs, the building materials and the funeral objects - the tombs belonged to a family from the Wang Mang period (45 B.C. - 23 A.D.) in the early Eastern Han Dynasty.

"Though we are not sure who the owners of the tombs were, it is clear the family enjoyed a high social status," said Cao.

The tombs are of great significance in studying social life during the Eastern Han Dynasty and provide evidence for studying ancient funerals in the area, he said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2006)